HOW YOU SAVED MY LIFE
For Prince
You probably don´t realize
the number of times you´ve saved my life.
By save I mean from certain death,
a dark road slithering through the mountains
as if fleeing a predator, sleep trampling
my eyelids, hands on the steering wheel
more shadow than substance. As my car rounded
a curve, you crossed the bridge of Let´s Go Crazy,
trilling me out of slumber, and my eyes opened
to an image of you, ruffled, luminous as a thousand
moons, grooving across my windshield, striking
your guitar like some mythical god of lightening.
By save I mean from heartbreak, that moment when
you shut your eyes, deluged; when your heart skids off
a cliff, chipping as it ricochets between bones.
You knew all about love and loss, penned lyrics
so raw, when you undressed them before the world
your scars throbbed as if slashed across my own skin.
When You Were Mine thundering out of a nightclub
as the door opened, my longtime lover on the threshold,
kissing another woman. It wasn´t the first time
the street had been pulled from under my feet
but your words steadied me, like a hand pressed gently
against my back. Like a bear hug. You got
why I spiraled headlong into an impossible love
despite the futility, despite the crash and burn.
By save I mean from despair. Every night,
death spattered across the six o´clock news.
Senseless wars stirred by trigger-happy tyrants,
little bodies blown asunder. Bodies splayed
on blood-stained pavement while the bullets
of a nation spill out of Armani pockets.
Poverty a death sentence, a free ride for disease.
Is it worth it? you wonder, your voice trembling
as earth capsizes under the weight of blood money,
deadly as acid rain. You sing rage out of your heart,
my flames blazing in your art. When it´s all I can do
to contain my howl in a forsaken wasteland
I blast your music; I conjure your spirit
and hum along, sure that my soul will be all right.
