The Curse

He opens his eyes Falls in love at first sight With the girl in the doorway What beautiful lines Heart full of life After thousands of years, what a face to wake up to He holds back a sigh As she touches his arm She dusts off the bed where 'til now he's been sleeping Under miles of stone The dried fig of his heart Under scarab and bone Starts back to its beating She carries him home In a beautiful boat He watches the sea from a porthole in stowage He can hear all she says As she sits by his bed And one day his lips answered her In her own language The days quickly pass He loves making her laugh The first time he moves, it's her hair that he touches She asks, "Are you cursed?" He says, "I think that I'm cured" Then he talks of the Nile and the girls in bull rushes In New York, he is laid In a glass covered case He pretends he is dead People crowd 'round to see him But at night she comes round And the two wander down the halls of the tomb That she calls a museum Often he stops to rest Then less and less Then it's her that looks tired Staying up asking questions He learns how to read From the papers that she is writing about him Then he makes corrections It's his face on her book More and more come to look Families from Iowa Upper West-Siders Then one day it's too much He decides to get up Then as chaos ensues, he walks outside to find her She is using a cane And her face looks too pale But she's happy to see him As they walk he supports her She asks, "Are you cursed?" But his answer's obscured In a sandstorm of flashbulbs And rowdy reporters Such reanimation The two tour the nation He gets out of limos Meets other women He speaks of her fondly Their nights in the museum But she's just one more rag now he's dragging behind him She stops going out She just lies there in bed In hotels in whatever towns they are speaking Then her face starts to set And her hands start to fold Then one day the dry fig of her heart stops its beating Long ago on the ship She asked, "Why pyramids He said, "Think of them as an immense invitation" She asked, "Are you cursed?" He says, "I think that I'm cured" Then he kissed her and hoped That she'd forget that question