to kiss the creases
and clefts of your injuries—
tell you
I'm sorry
you were disallowed
to put your mouth
around your anger
or your meager joy.
But,
less for the stern spirit
than the weeping maid
inside you
that drives all of us, I wish
above all to tell you this:
it is better by far, old man,
to be defeated
than destroyed,
and anyone
who will not let go
of a fish
is an idiot—it's
just a goddamned fish.
