Showers

Oh, a knock like a gunshot and we hit the floor running.
Do you remember?

1.

I wake up one morning and discover:
I can control the weather.
At my command,
stars fit themselves around my eyes,
skies map themselves between my fingers,
and you stretch out beside me,
demanding proof.
I hesitate, then force lightning down your throat.
We stumbled laughing into the shallows.

2.

Here, the slow revolutions of the tap
cause the machinations of a War.
I promise:
the slow revolutions of Russia and France
will be worth it; after all,
imagine it:
just two faces
pressed together
against a self-created storm.

3.

We shower; all the while I
look at you and marvel.
I say your name:
My prime minister, my president, my
first-in-command!
My King - my Queen – my Qing –
We shower, and for the first time I am sure that
something else is happening.

4.

Years later,
I shower alone and
it does not feel the same.
You are no longer here to
steal my eyes from the tiles,
and the revolution of a tap no longer works.
All our plans are falling apart.

5.

Time passes; we are forgotten.
Sometimes I imagine
you are being beheaded next door
and that I shall soon follow.
We would die well,
proud,
like the dictators we were.
- We were good dictators.
But nothing waits. And no one calls.

Do you remember?