Love Tips from Beyond the Grave

Look upon us, O Perplexed of Pinner, and get a life,
For we can’t use our potholed skulls, our scraggy bones to love like you;
Some of us have even less with which to solve
The riddles we pursued all our lives,
For we are soft as feather down
And can’t survive gentle winds let alone tsunamis;
Too late for us the comfort of a kiss,
The pleasures of touching another’s foot when half-asleep,
Too late for us the conversation over tea,
The unexpected hour of empathy,
Too late for a lover to turn in a particular light
So that you see their original face,
Too late even for the cool distance,
The tiff, the silent door behind which passion hides.
Look upon us, O Confused of Coventry, and deal with it,
For we can no longer love like you
But rub our cold bones alone in the eternal dark
Or, like dandelion clocks, scatter in the four winds for ever away.