Poem to a Gnossienne of Erik Satie

The issue of the rose
so vital to our youth
shall rise again

It always has
it always
will

And it's
our dance of
our life

to grow the rose

It always was
It always will

Ink on paper told me that
& the rose agrees

It always has
it always
will

There comes a time
when all the
petals have to fall
& yet there's
such a place
where petals
never fall

You know, my Erik--
they're the same same place!

Everyone
has a right
to food, a decent place to live, health

& fun, my Erik,
fun & fan & fun

The rose haunts
all of time
it always has
it always will

Meanwhile
all of us fade
to the same
same
anarcho-determinist
post-marxist
place of the sun

in our
furry pajamas

And the rose haunts
all of time

it always has
it always will

March 1998
(please play Satie's Gnossienne #5
while slowly reciting this poem.
Toward the end of the music chant
"The Rose haunts all of time" 6 or 7 times.)