failed pantoum
(lines sung by the Righteous Brothers, 1965)
Rochelle Jewel Shapiro
It cannot be a cherub who comes for him.
He needs a muscular William Blake angel, powerful, strapping.
I see my husband as he was—sinewy, long-limbed.
His eyes are dimmed, but I remember how he once beheld me.
A Blake-like angel must come for him, not ethereal, but strapping.
Terrifying and beautiful like the angels Rilke called out to.
Each visit, I sing the song to him we used to slow-dance to.
My husband is now terrifying, but beautiful as the angels Rilke called out to.
O, my love, my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch.
Do you hear me sing the song we used to slow-dance to?
Time goes by so slowly and time can do so much.
His dying goes so slowly that he is cold to the touch.
My husband’s hands tremble, but I hunger for his touch.
No cherub can lift my love from this railed bed.
Blake’s angel, come, come for him.
Rochelle Jewel Shapiro has published in the in the NYT (Lives). Nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net, her poetry has appeared in The Iowa Review, Prism, Westview, Poet Lore, Rogue Agent, The Virginia Normal, Negative Capability, Rougarou, Evening Street Review, and more. Her poetry collection, Death, Please Wait was published by Box Turtle Press (2023). She teaches writing at UCLA Extension. http://rochellejshapiro.com @rjshapiro @rochelle.j.shapiro