Parsifal

After the Hermann Haindl deck, in the time of COVID

Placid moon face open
Finger bloody in her wound
Where the arrow shot
Her swan’s heart, swooning
Lost.

You touch her heart
Pulse  slowing
Words escape “Still pretty”
Your fool’s smile trembles
Eyes swell tongue thickens 

You must abandon
Your drained innocence 
Pale and bloodless
Chase her deer heart
Pumping in your ears

Escape is nowhere
Still you pretend
Obsession fades
You stop imagining 
yourself 
A god. A man.

Foundation of sand
Ocean stronger for all
Your fighting to contain
No chalice can hold
All this water
All this blood

One leg one eye
No story 
To guide your suspension
Head below your heart
Blinded, unbound
A new language beneath you

~Heather Hirschi, 2020