These Things Happen

That notion succumbed and sought
sheltered grave inside my thoughts.
Resin ran, lush, noxious
fragrance; the one thing that might make sense.

Sense! Dearest, lie close
by my fretful frame!
Sense and that scent, noxious,
noxious and lush. Dearest, hush!
And lie by me! Science explains
things such as these. Chemistry!
Synapses, neurotransmitters, enzymes—gravity!
Things that ruin the nerves, sometimes irreversibly.

Sense: Such a quixotic notion. A prehistoric fetish, buried
deep beneath a shaman’s shrine. Long lost and forgotten. Long
lost and forgotten.
Dearest! Lie close by my mind! Lie!

Mankind shudders at the sheer thought.
Ancient legends whispered by the side
of the crackling bonfire. Myths, terrifying tales;
hopeful incredulity.
But these things happen every day, dearest.
Here they happen daily.