A) already gone

already gone

with the tail of the squirrel
hooked to the rope
I hop from branch to branch
as if on a cable way
but you have gone away

I am amazed
like a centipede
that has put on all his boots
but has missed your date

or like a sole
flattened by sorrow
I search for you the sea floor
I guess, with no tomorrow

tirelessly I ask for you
now diligent ant
climbing the back of a leaf
the stem of a plant

always after your traces
I stick head and hand
like a stupid ostrich
into the deepest sand

or with the stork's bill
and shame as no bond
I sound your bathtub
as if it were my pond

lonely and sad
for too much kissing where I had
your photo on the wall
my face is a hippo's snout
and an earthquake's just come about

when I asked her head above
have you ever seen my love?
the giraffe was shocked and shy
covered with measles
she said, I haven't, why?

now you know of course
when I see you back again
I'll be the proud head of a horse
in the wind sporting his mane

and when
in the pellican's last swallow
I will feed on pain
you will say to me in a whisper
easy, love, easy
take it down slow