Vanitas Vanity

Choke them out
Before the birth.

Red lips that breathe bubbles and
Smoke.
Throw flowers on the face,
(Collige, virgo, rosas…)
Tuck them neatly in black locks,

Bury their eyes well
With lemon peels on lids,
A color that can only be described as:
Carpe diem.

Sweep the volumes off velvet tablecloth
Before the vipers come out
Through empty-headed skulls
(“Gaudeamus igitur!”);
Misplaced brains left in
Cracked jars, tipped on sides
And set on display for the
Vultures clothed in silk,

Let the lady dance on carpets
From across the world,
Let her rot her apples gleefully,
Spinning with laughter to the sound
Of violins and pianos
The clack of heels too reminiscent of clocks,
Tapping closer to an imminent appointment
(memento mori).

Smiling lips, a ghost of a shell,
Last breath, a shudder
Reaching out to tomorrow and yet
Holds back into the night,
Lemon-peel lids and red mouth relieving
A soul-seeking phrase before the end:
“Vita nostra brevis est,
brevi finietur.”

Choke them out
Before the birth.

-Mien