Please
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
don’t pause
the conversation, I wouldn’t want silence
to settle in the corner where
there was a caquetoire before
you came into the room. Blank
paper makes me nervous; I doodle
in the margins since I have nothing
to say, and haven’t since the day
you gave me ink. Please don’t leave
long enough for the dust to settle,
rise up against the bourgeoisie
of raggedy mops. Don’t give me time
to bite my tongue, gaze at the hourglass
in the mirror, click my heels
together. Please, don’t
pause