Sunglass

Sunglass

This battered old shell
looks like a death mask.

Lucky or not I shall wear it
as I walk into Phenix City.
Though I cheated in my gambling
I wound up broke anyway.

And I come,
and I pay the zombie whores
and walking dead.

While the dark lady in sunglasses
takes the halo from his clay head.

One more trip over that bridge
to the kissing booth.
Where there's smoke
there may be fire
and this time I got burned.

I walk this beach at midnight
like a zen dharma beach bum.
And I amsaved,
and I turn.

I watch the drunken poets,
and my lawyer.

While the dark lady in sunglasses
takes the halo from his clay head.

-Will Dockery (1997)