one last poem and again

Arthur Streeton, "Oblivion"

one last kiss of the sun
before timelessness sets in
one more sweet speech
from your thick red lips
that have loved me
from my crown to my feet
and have absolved me
of ancient iniquities
yet never could remove
the stain of malady

now that there is nothing
to beat back the sick
and languid days
now that the prose i loved
is beyond my ability
to decipher and absorb
the length of days 
grows infinite
i'm sometimes awake
more often somnabulent
shut down against
an unalterable gray

my heart is hurting
the gates of my brain
have been broken
all i hear now are
chainsaws and cars
in syncopation with
my uneven pulse
and even the kiss of sun
spins my skin to silver
poisons the river
as it spills into the ocean

kiss me one more time
and i shall float an
elderly ghost on the shoreline
i shall write for you
one last poem to say
i loved you more than
life itself but not
and i am sorry
more than oblivion
 
would you understand
if i could no longer live
with this sickness?