Old Flame

                                                                      will never die out because it doesn’t burn, yet                                                                       (like everything else, those leaves of summer,                                                                       in the old metal can of the world                                                                       but it is a real fire, fed by your sinews,                                                                       shot from the sun, a white spot through the magnifying glass                                                                          of you                                                                       nothing can touch her, conceived as she is,                                                                       a woman with a ghostly conception                                                                       the old men, the sages, say it                                                                       your old man, your brothers, have it                                                                       each man has his own Immaculata                                                                       the general, and the bright particular                                                                       the oddest things are clutched, being most brittle                                                                       her getting into a car, her walking into school                                                                       a piece of clothing, a sweater, the stands on the football field                                                                       each thing a liberation, and a bar in your prison                                                                       a yellowing envelope, a fifteen cent stamp                                                                       an address to a street and a house that perhaps stands)                                                                       what it touches burns to the ground.