* * *

stave off the impostor come expose the twin
bursting from the innermost me like brooks and rivers
where the old heart engaged in mining tin
ore scrapes it raw out of my feathered ears
the timber of my skull the goo of my gums
he wears with a panache i seldom sported
existence is his payment in advance
for all the gratitude extorted

the installments of what life he still owes me
the secret bearer of my escrow soul
make small sense when you put them side by side
like an old watch with half its pinions lost
its tiny heart of bronze all ticked away
i read the user manual that came with me
and try this lever up or that to the left
but the secret that was self is now all his
who flows the more like me the more I ebb

once when the time was young i was all one
or was that someone who just dreamed he was
who thought all parts that make him to be his
in a tiny tin box with its ticking soul
all sound and solid with no leaks or brooks
conceived all in one piece without a gap
this lever to the left and that one up
this river through the woods and up the hill
one day i will