Rimmel #1

More about Rimmel #1

And something remains,
between the bright pages and the dark ones.
I erase your name from my façade,
mixing up my alibis with your reasons,
my alibis, your reasons.

The cards they dealt me said I’d be a winner,
but the gypsy was a trickster.
And that intrusive future —
if I’d been just a little younger,
I would’ve torn it apart with imagination,
I would’ve burned it down with a dream.

Now your lips can be sent
to some brand-new address,
and my face —
you can lay it over someone else’s,
who knows who.
Your four aces, all of one color,
you can hide them, play them,
or keep them safe,
as old friends — like us.

Holy thirst for life,
sweet Venus painted in Rimmel.
Like that time it rained outside,
and you asked me
if by chance you still had that photo,
the one where you smiled without looking.
And the wind passed over your fur collar,
and over your body,
and when I, without understanding, said yes,
you whispered —
“That’s all you’ve got of me.”
That’s all I’ve got of you.

Now your lips can be sent
to some brand-new address,
and my face —
you can lay it over someone else’s,
who knows who.
Your four aces, all of one color,
you can hide them, play them,
or keep them safe,
as old friends — like us.