Letter to a Lady on the Nightmare Side

Dearest Lover:

Dream tonight of mocking birds

And salve and mustard

Confined in safety pins

Muffle your screams in mint and rain

Satisfy your wantonness in obsolete palaver

Cry out against a lengthening strike

And let a colored formula beat out the wheat

Cross yourself and smile

Lift your breast and touch the ceiling

And let the doves light where they may

Pattern your behavior out with scissors

And leave the dawn to such

Sleep and stretch and kiss and fight

Live and be learned

Dream and beware

Alternate yourself with pistols

Advice is lost

And wanders room to room

Pick up the shining dimes

And eat the chocolates

Leave the rest to me

Yours truly I.

Structure

23 lines · 2 stanzas