Cross of Mine

Inspired by Hans Hoffmann's Laburnum

It is in chaos that I thrive,

in the spirals and drips

of my thoughts made manifest, splashed 

frantically in your gaze,

in the the push-pull affair between 

colors warm and cool. 

Could you exist here, too, 

not just as a spectator in your 

familiar pose: arms akimbo, legs 

planted flush against earth,

but as a lover, a dancer, 

a gunshot, a virus in my veins?

Will you be the one to finally hoist 

up my red-soaked cross,

the one I have carried west to east, 

south to north,

the one I mend and cradle daily 

while you merrily dream?

Or will you walk away

and give back 

the spilled blue of my essence that 

reached for your pulse in song?

*Published by The Ekphrastic Review on 3/24/19