Joseph O'Keefe​

Your Beeping Dripping Room

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When at last you know

you will and will never

leave your beeping dripping room

eternity’s hum is rising to a hymn

what then?

 

thank the cool starched hospital sheets

exalt morphine as chrism

regret kisses never ventured

lament bonfires of ambition embered

wish for time to atone

 

realize your story will soon 

be carried only in other minds

or obituaries that may 

or may never be searched for

that may or may never be found

 

recall your overture’s flourish

sanctify your confetti of red letter days

or note the pulse of your tender wrist

so indifferent to the proof of calloused palm

in gentle generosity

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