Preservation - Wintersleep

That night he hurt you bad

In that green, pastel

Summer dress

You’d die alone with the land

A hollow head in its hands

But everybody does that

But with particular scorn

In polyurethane form

Freeze dried, stuff to the brim

Preservation

Hide in our hideous masks

Your daddy’s shitty

Shake grass

I told you I couldn’t see it

A monument of pills

Grocery lists, telephone bills

Pamphlets & dollar store trinkets

Preservation

But if that was how you put

It, and if you ever willed it

I would embroider you

In disaffected kisses, in

Bleach reticent sunsets

Soldered animal glue

A hand too heavy to hold

Lips that won’t

Do what they’re told

How do we ever begin it?

Preservation

Preservation

(How do we grow old? How do we grow old?)