Reed Lyrics

I pare my words as a clarinet reed

Cool, ivory, smooth

And still its’ ridges catch my nails

Rough and warm, love intrudes

I polish to gleaming a telescope mirror 

Honed to probe into deepest space

And still my fingers leave a trail

Of ghostliness like last years rain

Ever so quizzical ever so grave

I am uncurled, unbound, undone

Tumbling down past doves in a gantry

Gathering old and sowing my young

I pare my words as a clarinet reed

cool, ivory, smooth

and still its’ ridges catch my nails

rough and warm, love intrudes.