mistah eliot - he burned me

Who will be warmed by this fire?
I offer no cover,
no blanket.
wearing my boots and my
coat
and oh, those boots! and oh those
legs (it doesn't matter
if my memory is faulty)!
that constant banging
in the alley
that constant hiss
on the tip of your tongue
never spoken.
hsssss.
that constant tinge
in the back of your
brain - I AM!
I
I
I offer more noise!
More crashes and missteps!
More forgetting that the framework
of time
includes all of us.
I offer shouts!
not relief
not darkness
not thumb-sucking bliss
Shouting:
"Now,
now,
NOW!"