Thief of the Hour

there were the velvet gloves
the chalk so fine so paper-white
mauve lilies gentle turning up
their spring heads to sunlight

oh won’t you come and play
if only for today, my song
sing it strong,
sing if only for today

you remember clear water streams
musty July heat and powder for ladies
the buzz of unsung anguish and
cloudy midnight cicadas

see girls dancing whirling twirling
frosted cakes in their petticoats
and muslin aprons afloat in the air
the awakening of seeing

you, I know what you did
thoughts ablaze in that mischievous head
poor child, unable to concentrate on his exams
the clock burning with stopped time and possible failure

your stolen hours
oh how we underestimate the starlight
cloud-light, dark sky, moth-eaten covers
ecstasy alone still twangs and cuts deep

oh it feels lovely
please won’t we forgive this child his sin?
and sweaty finger-rustled covers
the touch of virtue and virtue lost

this boy plays organ
this boy commits a sin
this boy speaks to maidens
and this boy spots the dark

I spy with my troublesome eye
the clumsy bloom of a renegade
he, of wrongful fantasies
who follows the gaze of a headless queen

come now, pleasant dark
shall we crouch and sway in our pirate dreams?
oh Moritz, it mightn’t be too long
we could be the guilty ones

yet, the bleeding clarity of sunset
hung with flies that drone and buzz
with your runaway clad in ghost-white
you finally sing the song

this is the thief of the hour
this is the hour of song
this is the child of error
who turns down the sadness of dawn