The Radio Dial Quivers
by Reiko Davis
Jumbled voices, hissing static, electric dissonance
Make merging unthinkable;
The sound of unfulfilled desire.
That was how we were:
Separate frequencies straining to intersect.
But tuning the dial constantly for a moment of harmony
We somehow missed the other’s music.
You ration yourself out day by day.
Duty. Moderation. Family. Honor.
I walk with you at disciplined intervals.
Resentful, I grow soundless to summon my thoughts:
“My heart knows no sin – it trespasses without repentance.
I practice no apportionment and accept my fate as a victim of abandon.In my heart ebbs many uncharted waters;
I often unleash myself into a spirited summer downpour,
Then, drenched to the soul, flee to a candlelit gazebo by the sea.”
I awake to find instantaneous inspiration,
Unbearable loneliness,
Irrepressible passions.
I give myself over to art.
Venerate literature, the exotic, and you.
You won’t meet by our ocean port --
This I perceive,
Though I release the floodgates to my soul.
For God’s sake rush to me under cover of night,
Love me and know my unqualified devotion!
Two years yet
No sudden pulse,
No midnight declarations
Nor a single escape to a luminous hideaway.
If you won’t embark to meet me,
Find me and give me back!
Set me free from your firm and composed grasp.