Milk Fever in the Forest

I'll play the blues for you, Momma, if you'll stay alive
I don't know how and I don't know notes
I don't know about keys and I've got trouble with theory
but I know sadness
I know quiet loneliness
I know what it's like to die and not be able to express the dying

so I'll play the blues for you, Momma
for your baby too
wet snow swirling in the deep woods
tomb of moss rock
of pine
of heavy shadow
wherein somewhere wolves cast dice for our flesh

we're all that's left
in the world
pressed against your imposing ribcage
coarse carpeted wall of muted brown fur
rising and falling with labored breath
I won't leave your side
if you'll keep me warm
and goddammit why isn't love enough

somber sound of harmonica chords climb upward into the forest canopy
like ghosts pirouetting
a soft pallid snow percolates through the rising notes
burying us in a cold cloak
I promised your newborn you would live
but I can't be sure.

TA