Islands

Islands - Justin Rutledge

At the mouth of the open sea

The leaves will be turning red

While the man that they thought

I could be lives in a book you read

Where the coast is uncomfortably

Close the sturgeon have fled

I supposed that with a Japanese

Rose I could undo you

So I pinned it to you

There's an island straight ahead

Named after a dead man

Where the crest at the tip of

It's wrist is ladled with virgin sand

Where the coast is indelibly close

We'll strike up the band

And I'll wonder whether

We were the ones

Who meant nothing to you

The ones who withdrew you

Heavy the hand heavy the harvest

Steady the hand steady the harness

Pray for the land pray for the locust

Pray for the land pray for the locust

At the mouth of the open sea

The wedding is winding down

All the guests are beginning

To mourn the death of a wedding gown

Your ghost is unbearably close

Unbearably bound

Now the lights make early widows

Of nights that try to outdo you

Now the crows are blackened ribbons

And bows that hang from a new you

I supposed that with a Japanese rose

I could undo you

So I pinned it to you

I pinned it to you