pax
ONE love, blood, life
Paperwork
If one thing is inevitable in all this,
it is surely paperwork.
Even the simple act of laying eyes
requires a passport, all manner
of rubber stamps and unsmiling verifications,
signatures and seals.
Picking up the phone is accompanied
by a lengthy agreement to pay
the mounting bills; small, casual gifts
cannot simply be laid beside a placemat
in the morning, but must come
with declarations of good intent
and poor assessment of nonexistent cash value.
Am I worth the writer's cramp,
the carpal tunnel syndrome, the endless bureaucracy?
Will this love survive the scrutinizing eyes
of possibly thousands of transatlantic paper pushers?
Tell me this is so.
Write it down and sign it
with today's date and your mother's maiden name
in the presence of a notary
by the light of a full moon.
If one thing is inevitable in all this,
it is surely paperwork.
Even the simple act of laying eyes
requires a passport, all manner
of rubber stamps and unsmiling verifications,
signatures and seals.
Picking up the phone is accompanied
by a lengthy agreement to pay
the mounting bills; small, casual gifts
cannot simply be laid beside a placemat
in the morning, but must come
with declarations of good intent
and poor assessment of nonexistent cash value.
Am I worth the writer's cramp,
the carpal tunnel syndrome, the endless bureaucracy?
Will this love survive the scrutinizing eyes
of possibly thousands of transatlantic paper pushers?
Tell me this is so.
Write it down and sign it
with today's date and your mother's maiden name
in the presence of a notary
by the light of a full moon.
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