Too Late (Ode to Heaven's Gate)

thoughts about one of my favorite movies

Buggy for two, strapped

To a railcar. Forgotten

Suitcase, beaten and worn,

Tossed aboard, battered

Again.

 

“I don’t want to see a scratch on her.”

 

Helpless family punched, bleeding.

He sees, goes past, buys a gun,

Whiskey, goes out,

Suddenly Chuck Norris--

Too late.

 

Flinging the door open, chasing, cuddling.

He eats pie. “Eat all of it!”

She saves time, strips and runs.

He’s got all the time.

Eats and walks--

Too late.

 

(They make love: Why not sex?)

 

“Got you a gift,” he says.

She twists in a blanket, twists

And runs. He walks.

Other women are bleary, groggy.

A fiddler falls out.

 

(Is he why they’re bleary?)

 

Buggy for two, set free,

Tilting and careening

Through town. Powder explodes.

Shimmering lake, gliding on

The air of a fiddle.

 

(Why do I always weep?)

 

He sleeps. She baths, nude.

There’s not a scratch on her,

Yet.