watching

behind the blinds, we watch stripes of
empty walls, yellow-wedding sunsets, 
watercoloring paper until it frays, fades
against shaky hands, weathered blisters

I do not think you will learn of sacrifice
the richest tycoons rarely send to charity,
preschool children clutch gummies to their hearts--
all wise men are self-founding
and nobody dreams of righteous things

like Lilies and Carnations, I want
to return to a lovely world
of peeled pears, gardens of peach roses,
feather eyelashes and round cheeks

broad-chested gods and benevolent 
goddesses tread upon that past, 
kneeling with whole hearts
like unfractured cashews, 
unangerable, lungs not yet run through
by a thousand shards of rebuke

See now, we hide
behind the painful armors of our grown-up selves
lonesome behind jumping facades and
bright eyes, dark and simple,

invariably watching stripes of empty walls
and yellow-wedding sunsets