This all is a séance -
We asked you to join us,
We want you to feel that
Your presence is welcome.
We want you to feel that
Your input is valued,
Your presence required to
Put flesh on these bones.
To spell R-S-V-P
By glass on these letters,
To force us to feel you.
We want to feel something.
Snake fingers through fingers
To bind us together;
One side of the table
Stays cold to the touch.
(Make us regret that
We ever doubted
That you existed
Join hands with us now.)
Your life is a séance
And you are the ghost here.
Now time’s of the essence,
Your essence time, und
Deine Seele ohne Körper
Wann Körper ist alles
We drink to your health, sir,
While toasting your death.
The red curtain twitches,
Chairs rock without warning;
If we’re at the threshold,
Which side do we sit on?
Now beg us to enter,
Now tell us you need us,
Now help us remember,
How much we love life.
May 2007