Deaf Eyes

You are like a flower

in the middle of the winter. 

I never saw you coming,

but you're bursting through the snow. 

You are like a pilgrim

who has only been a tourist

in a safe and lonesome hometown

that is all you've ever known. 

But I don't want to meet you

in your hometown in the winter;

I think I'd rather see you

as a flower on the road. 

 

If all I ever get is

this mirror's poor reflection,

I hope that you will show up

in the window on the door. 

That would give me reason

to raise my only question.

But would you even give an answer?

I know I’ve asked before. 

A flower doesn't bloom

behind a window in a basement

and a window doesn't tell the truth

to deaf eyes anymore.

 

I have a flower

that reminds me of you. 

The petals intact

will reveal nothing new,

but if you love me,

and I really doubt you do,

a dismembered blossom

will change nothing soon.

 

These deaf eyes lost their focus

when I saw that lonely flower

and I wondered if it fell to me

to water you alone. 

I have got no water

and we're stranded in the desert. 

This is not the winter

that you knew when you were home. 

And yet somehow you seem

to be better off now

than when you were looked after

by your family back at home. 

 

You'll probably do better

if I leave you here alone. 

My deaf eyes look once more,

then I turn,

now I'm gone.