rebirth

maybe it’s this heat
the Ancient Age and American Spirit
the smell of the leaves
(and you know-
my favorite month is all around me)

I feel alive, I feel alright, tonight

it could be that I’m 26 and free
could be the music in my ears
(the records he played for me,
his face was lit with love
as we listened to song after song
just a rhythm and a heart and a beat
and i wished i felt that way about anything
but i do-
i feel that way about You)

the south beneath my feet
(an orange, vintage couch underneath me
an alabama breeze rushing across my cheeks
best friend lovers in the room next to me
and i sleep alone for the first time in a week
but i feel alive, i feel alright, tonight)

and a river of unread books in front of me
(bring me Lewis and Dante; Sartre and Nabokov;
Joyce and Dosteovsky- let other women
take care of men and raise them and break them
i just want to be left alone to read)

maybe it’s the pavement beneath my feet
a light in front of me
(i cannot leave You
but i cannot seem to love You very well either
Your patience is painfully sweet)

i am alive and i am alright, tonight.