My Cane

Yesterday, I walked the lane Where once I lived And found my cane Not yet a cane But only just a dogwood limb Barked and petalled still Lying in the lane Within a boy's dream And I thought back then When fifteen years were all I had To make my cane a Moses staff To walk through all the world. So, I sawed the broken branch And deflowered those pink blooms And skinned her naked Bathing her in good shellac But I didn't know then She'd be my lover to be Kept by the corner of my bed She waits for me To come home to her For me to hold her And caress her now yellowed curves She wishes I would stay.