The Hungry Artist

Tools

No one sees Janus
in January anymore
his two frozen faces –
one young, one old

Except for children
who see only
Day and Night
a Smile and a Fright

One year ending,
and another beginning,
Tra-la-la-la-la-
la-la-la-la

But we’re no longer children
We are tool after tool after tool
I’m a tool you’re a tool
We use use use

I asked you to dance
with a glance
that you once fancied
you spun once on tiptoe
with a twirl
under my finger –
a tool for you, my finger to me
And you were a tool
to make me smile not two
but a thousand different smiles
in the thousand different moments
between Day and Night
through the span of January
and you took your tool
to another tool –
a hand that stroked
your hair, not you

Janus is dead because
he has only two faces
where day begins
and night ends