" Out of the Works No Good Comes From
The simple equation you found
in my notebook
frightened you
but I could have explained it:
After all bright colors of sunset and
leaves are added together
lovers are subtracted
children multiplied, are divided, taken away.
The remainder is small enough
To stay in this room forever
Gray-shadowing restless
Trapped on a gray grass plain,
I did not plan to tell you
Better to lose colors gradually
First the blue of the eyes
Then the red of blood
Its salt taste fading…
Wherever you’re heading tonight
You think you’re leaving me
An the equation of this gray room.
Hold her close
Pray
These are lies I am telling you.
…You’ll drive on
Putting distance and time between us-
The snow in the high Sierras
The dawn along the Pacific
Dreaming you’ve left this narrow room.
But tonight
I have traced all escape routes
With my finger across the tv weather map.
Your ocean dawn is only the gray light
In the corner of this room
Your mountain snowstorm
Flies against the glass screen
Until we both are buried. "
― Leslie Marmon Silko , Storyteller