The Peacock
by Laurence O'Dwyer
[ poetry - december 05 ]
And the dawn chorus is hours too early,
the Romanian voices outside the night club are difficult,
oblivious,
the villages wake, mothers, fathers, cousins.
The titter totter night knows nothing of the first light,
the dawn chorus is hours too early.
Romanian voices,
Chinese,
Turkish,
it is all too difficult, not worth the trouble.
I am beautiful, I am alone, I am too expensive for you,
I am alone.
The dawn chorus is hours too early, the sun creeps over
the villages of the immigrants, waking fields, streams,
childhood trees,
They cycle home in the dark, the immigrants and the peacock.
I am beautiful, I am too expensive for you.
And the peacock is confused by the voices,
is angry with the voices
that it does not understand.
I am beautiful, I am too expensive for you.
The immigrants cycle home, the dawn chorus is hours too early
and they whistle with the notes in the trees,
they whistle
with the notes in the trees, the peacock is angry,
the voices from Romania, from Turkey, confuse its head.
Where am I?
She struts by the river, the voices she does not understand.
I am beautiful,
I am strut and pride and walk,
the voices are,
I do not understand.
I am beautiful,
I am pride and strut, the immigrants cycle home.
Chinese voices, Romanian voices,
the dawn chorus is hours too early, the villages wake,
thousands of miles from here the villages break
with the voices of birds,
light.
But the peacock is angry. I am beautiful, I have money,
I sleep alone, I am too expensive for you.
The voices are too early,
the dawn chorus is too early.
I am tall, I am beautiful, you sleep with me, you are lucky,
those voices, immigrant voices.
Fuck you,
get a real job.
The dawn chorus is hours too early, titter, totter,
the voices from villages in Romania wake now.
I don’t know you,
cycling home, after hours, still picking up my glasses,
I hate you.
Romanian voices, titter totter, why are you here?
the dawn chorus is hours too early,
the immigrants cycle home in the dark,
the dawn chorus is hours too early,
the dawn,
the sleep,
the song.
How you wake is all that is important,
and the peacock is sick this morning,
vomiting in the sink,
and the voices from the Romania are strong.
