The Hour of Absolute Sadness

I see purple people all around me

Big, beautiful people, with purple eyes

purple smiles, purple faces,

purple skins

Purple kids with purple balloons

Purple lovers with purple love

Purple ladies with purple grocery bags

Purple men with purple beads of sweat

Purple hookers in purple petticoats

It's as if the world's turning into a sweet happy place.

The world's turning into a purple place. 

The sun sets.

I stare at flowers dangling down old verandahs of old mansions.

I stare at stoic cows, aloof, eyes closed -

chewing cud through cold centuries of twilight   

Horses drown in honey

Soldiers drown in bleak waste

Wolves drown in dream of pure love

Birds of life return, nestbound, purple wings

purple beaks

And I am here

Ugly, indifferent

and nothing close to purple. 

Show's over, kid

No point shouting "encore"

No point digging inside for gold

No point sweeping petals up the black avenue 

Turn around and go home.

Home is a dusty place with green fangs.

And there's no one waiting for you there.