ITALIAN JAYA

i think of you then
much younger than i
and my heavy and aged twenty-nine


i think of you then
when i walked you to work
through your streets of worn camden town


i think of you then
of your walking away
from my solitary and cold street corner


i think of you then
the limp that you gained
from your failed suicide so well planned
       

i think of you then
overdosed on pills
with thoughts that no other would know


i think of you then
within your dark wood
underneath your chosen death tree


i think of you then
in you council-flat room
your seductive smile walking towards me
       

i think of you then
in your joyful despair
those seeds of my love you are taking
       

i think of you then
your mouth full of want
as your harvest my secret desires                                 



Poem "Italian Jaya" jwb 18 Sept-03 Oct 2010 (Revised 2022)
Pen & ink illustration "Nude - after Modigliani" 13 July 2012