Fifteen Reasons Not to Cry

Right at this moment
Fifteen silent echoes in the valley of magic
have sired fifteen children
Right at this moment
Fifteen saxophones celebrate their birth
in fifteen different tones

Right at this moment
Fifteen little sparrows have fallen off
their nests, chirping
Right at this moment
Fifteen church bells are tolling
near the Gates of Sorrow
mourning their death

Right at this moment
Fifteen young men have decided to become saints
and have set themselves on fire
Right at this moment
Fifteen old men are staring
at those very fires contemplating jazz

Right at this moment
Fifteen boys have discovered
their Oedipus complex and are
too perplexed to react
Right at this moment
Fifteen scholars have submitted
their papers on suppressed sexuality

Right at this moment
Fifteen nuns are enacting Resurrection
in a monastery, clad in black robes
Right at this moment
Fifteen paintings of Giacometti
watch their play from the frames

Right at this moment
Fifteen rivers have dried up
and fifteen moons have drowned in them
Right at this moment
A gypsy poet is writing a ballad
for those fifteen rivers
and those fifteen moons that once existed

Right at this moment
Fifteen lovers have parted ways --
each shedding fifteen crystal drops of tear
Right at this moment
Fifteen flowers have wilted in that sorrow

Right at this moment
Fifteen eagles have perched atop the sun
watching the world go round
Right at this moment
Fifteen elves are seated below the sun
watching the sky fly away

Right at this moment
I have posed fifteen question marks
for me to wonder why
Right at this moment
Those fifteen question marks
are hitting back at me with their sharp edges

But all these had happened before…