Only Want to See You, Only Want to See You
"I know, I know, I know"
but the times aren't changing.
You were growing out
your beard for me,
to encourage me
to visit New York,
and you, again.
Your husky voice made
the six-hundred miles
between us feel like
no space at all,
like the intimacy
inside a sand dollar.
when I walked
on the empty golf course,
near the pond, an irritated
heron took off in front of me,
flapping its wide wings
to search for a quieter
hunting spot.
The air was too humid
for clean thinking
in mid-June on Seabrook Island.
I was only 33 and you
were 62.
You knew the Devil in me
that I learned to like
when I was 39.
"I know, I know, I know"
you, Prince, cried in song.
Last night, you rocked my
lonely, curled-up body
facing the corner
of the marina
in my distorted dream
while kids swam
outside.
They were laughing
and splashing.
"I only want to see you"
in the vivid day.
The children
"in the purple rain"
are not caught up in
recycled dreams.
I was in the marina
on a stationary bike
for something to do.
A customer came in,
but he needed you.
I forgot if you fell
out of love for your little
queen of submarine sandwiches,
your shopgirl, or if your absence
was more than a lack of interest.
Does your ghost love me more
than the man who came
before?
"Let me put your makeup on you,
Jennifer. Come on,
I will put your colors on."
You hurt me fresh
in inconsistently subtle ways
when the water rushes home
on Canandaigua lake
and I dream too vividly of you.
Your Italian soul
completes this starving
German-Danish girl
who isn't hungry
for your pasta primavera.
"Purple rain, purple rain!"
Pour down and fill
the hollow echoes
of my middle-aged heart.
Prince, hold the note,
and let me dance for Terry,
strumming the Cloud Guitar.
You two can play together,
now.
"If you know what I'm singin'
about up here,"
I wish I did.
"Come on, raise your hand."
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