Mark Murphy ~ For Him, For Her

I will name a star in the remote reaches of the Lost Galaxy

for my father who sits alone in his study playing chess

and celestial dice, whilst perfecting his old mystic’s hunch.

But this will be as nothing, when compared to my planet-sized

generosity towards my children who are not yet born.

For them, I will buy ten acres of lunar dust on the light side of the moon.

And for my children’s children I will buy the rocky plains of Venus,

and when I am done with buying planets I will buy race horses

and golden hollow heart necklaces for the ladies of solitude.

And for the memory of dead lovers I will buy ice-bergs and deserts,

unfathomable gifts for the unraveling of time, where the phantasms

in the brain wreak havoc over the hearts and minds of the living man.

And for my only godchild I will buy a dolly and for his mother

I will buy a long lost title of a long dead royal and for the brave man

and the fool there will be tokens placed on their eyes when they sleep.

For the newly weds down the lane I will buy vintage champagne,

and for the maids in the grand hotel, they shall have roses in their bowers

and bathe in the milk of doe’s before the hotel manager and the Pope.

And last of all - and just for you - I will ignore the shrieks in the Sultan’s harems,

and the horn that would sound the end of time and I will buy

the Rubaiyate of Omar Khayyam and we will learn to live ungodly lives.