some trust the tarot
                   or the feel
      of a new tattoo

or messages that seem
                  to descend
     to a higher form

             all figures
             all for show

    once love one
    love's master

as when overcoming
          her resistance
     the way she wanted

beautiful ambient light
of the end of days
              like a limb
     I never had
                  that still felt
like it was missing

Copyright © 2014 by Buck Downs. Used with permission of the author. This poem appeared in Poem-A-Day on April 25, 2014. Browse the Poem-A-Day archive.