no such concept as defeat

flying obstreperous flags
into the wall of cold-laid
on stems from withered whispers

golden fervor into the palatable
skyline hushing nice and worldly
like a tattered saint
steadfast patients on the cancer floor
never giving an inch towards the dull nurses
we never have to be creative on our own,
we never won a flag, not today

not with the rest of our day’s incomes policy
like stolen white minstrel gatherings
not for the weathered coat or the grocery bill,
just a bull in defense of the torn stars
my heart is not smaller for you,
or for the gathered dust on microwaved contests

I have not given you my love
so that we can waste here until tomorrow, when I die
I have given you a share of my mediocrity
so that you can share in some of the days-old forgiveness
I have found did not come without thinking

and stress and failure
you can have this rain,
I have no coming back,
I will not retreat from no returns

I have given plenty of unstrung myths
their return to life for just a moment, long enough
here I am finally a patient on the last stand
no such thing as defeat, no such concept