The Milk Dance


Last night I died
upon impacting a milk truck.
Everything white, I thought
heaven awaited me.
Boy, did I feel foolish.

Dance with me, Satan,
on delicate hooves,
dance and twirl here
and twirl there.
Let us skip like coy flames in
oxygen-rich atmosphere.

Last night I died
and lay creamy, frosty,
and hoped my hearse would be white,
I hoped the horses white
who pulled my white body.

Wash me, Satan,
scrub my paleness
with scabrous fur.
I died white,
let me live dark
as we fish for souls.


Donald Zirilli
1992