Avalanche

I stepped into an avalanche It covered up my soul When I am not this hunchback that you see I sleep beneath the golden eave You wish to conquer pain You must learn, learn to serve me well You strike my side by accident As you go down for your gold The cripple here that you clothes and feeds Is neither starved nor cold He does not ask for your company Nor at the center, center of the world When I am on a pedestal You did not raise me there You love to know and compel me To kneel grotesque and bare I myself am the pedestal For this ugly hamper which you steer You wish to conquer pain You must learn what makes me kind The crimes of love that you offer me They are the crimes I left behind Your pain is not crimson through the years It's just a shadow, shadow of my wound I have begun to long for you I who have no greed I have begun to ask for you I who have no need You say you've gone away from me But I can feel you when you breathe Do not dress in those rags for me I know you are not poor And don't love me quite so fiercely now When you know that you're not sure Is it your turn beloved? Is it your flesh that I wear?