Elegy for Philip Seymour Hoffman

For Philip Seymour Hoffman, on his death by overdose in Greenwich Village

The pain that held
The arm that rang
The mouth that said
The ace that fell
The eye that read
The chest that could
The lungs that banged
The arm that sprang
The heart that caused
As mean as hard
As hard as that
As heavy as tried
As dismal as can’t
The love that stung
The bit that played

The lungs that clanged
The harm that hammed
The ham that harmed
The charm that gave
The grave that stood
The beckoning vein
The rented digs
The role of blood
The man that held
The hold that failed
The hard that was done
The doing that came late
The work spared
The body bare
The bare bodkin
The barely lit stage
The stained page
The uplate night
The morning haze
The crying shame
The crust of fame
The tip of bone
The broken bread
The street drug cred
The harming head
The heavy as lead
The soul of night
The break of doing
The dawn of crime
The kiss of need
The needing to go
The having to leave
The leaving us
The using it
The hurting lit
Up at night
And back again
The man and his arm
The arm and the man
Cold bathroom tiles
Bare body and the can
The greatness curse
The heavy load
The load of shit
The world heaves
And the missing it
The craving dream
The way off
The way back on
The falling in
The wanting to drown
The dropping crown
The sorry state
The I am so sorry
Letter sent too late
The pain that held
The arm that rang

by Todd Swift, 2014.

Comments

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