Carriage Lights (Down Dark Alleys)

Transient and temporary
The flicker, it fades
With carriage lights down dark alleys.
Puddles pool in muddy mirrors and
As that cold man is carried away
My face is reflected dirty and grave.

Oh, who does the clatter of cobbles
Sing to, this midnight noon?
The mournful steps of shod hooves
Clicking like the gears of
That grinding wheel of time told?
I have not grown, but been whittled old.

Like those great oak trees, come autumn
Shed their crowns as falling leaves,
My once royal brow feels barren;
Robbed by the teeth of winter
Of youth, the noble vitality and pride
Which separates peasants from kings.

Her name, and her name, spoken on
The drops of rain that sputter my muddy
Reflection brown and black - The bells
And chimes of seconds withering, dying;
The clarion call that what's time has come
Cannot be undone nor brought back.

366/365 (The uneven years)

366.

send flowers?

for the grave

or the girl.

i remember

strange stars

wire, twalls

lost as hell.

and as hot

summer came

before snow

could melt.

they say

given time

every thing

fades away.

well, 366

how long

should i wait.

they say

every thing

is temporary

to get through

a bad day.

that's what

i say

when i know

some one

i love

will soon

slip away.

how long

do i wait

365?

The Virgin Stirs (In apollo's dust)

The virgin stirs
In Apollo's dust
Scattered across the breadth
Of that gloaming stripe
Indigo, russet, copper and gold;
I'm their youth divine
By reckoning of men eternal, old.

Celeste, strung out
Among the eaves
Her hand soft through willow and oak
Brittle gold green leaves
Plucked by ghostly fickle fingers;
Like little ships sinking
Across the deepening horizon.

Mirror still waters
Vanity of stars
Collect the wrecks of little oak ships
Where they drift
In my fire's promethean flicker-
The prophecy of tea
Says she's not looking down on me.

Apollo's dark descent
Beneath earthen crest
Speaks of bodies drifting apart;
Every warm sun
Someone else's cold silver star -
Immortal constellations
Move in patterns as mortal hearts.

The virgin stirs
In Apollo's dust
How distant they now seem to be
Across the seraph's sea
Parted by departed day and memorial night,
Yet still they unite
If only by glimpse of familiar, distant light.

It's The Dying (Ignominious ends)

It's not what's dead.

It's the dying

That holds the dread.

The bonfire

Flickering shadow's,

Ghosts of ferocity -

What value

Does anything posses

When what is precious

Meets such an

Ignominious end.

Insubstantial (Every golden moment gilded)

She's the shadow

Insubstantial

Cast by the glory

Of sunny days,

The dark crease

In the corner

Of smiling lips.

The weight of

Memories from a

Lost, heavy crown.

Every new lover,

Her essence in

Their silver scent.

Every golden

Moment gilded

In her absence.

This beautiful life-

Everything it is

Is what it could be,

Is a ramshackle mansion

Threadbare and barren;

As I look over

My shoulder

To share the moment

With her ghost.

Love (We both know i never should have came)

Love.

The sound of thunder

Clapping out the applause

Of a forest falling

Felled by south winds.

Where was I going

In the woods

On such a day

As the sunlight

Dappled the floor gray,

Still and warm

As the eve began to fade?

To her home

Beyond the treeline

And the river's clover banks,

I carried with me chains

And weights,

For when I'd try to run away.

I've never been

A loving man

I'm afraid I

Have to say.

But even nature is not rigid,

The seasons of men must

Too and so change.

Oh, the south wind

Carrying over the far plains

It cut down stormy swaths

Beneath that crown

Of white on gray;

Ancient oaks topple,

Weedy willows uproot-

Serenity quickly

Become fury

As I struggled

Forth to you.

With all the wind whirling

My chains heavy and

Burdening.

I made my way down

Those emerald banks,

Surreal and glowing

In the fading light.

Into the river,

Seeking shelter from

The trembling forest round,

But I had not thought,

That chains and

Weights enough to

Keep me with you,

Would be so heavy

That I would drown.

At your door, the frame

Of your body silhouetted

In the last russet rays

Of a gentle summer day;

Waiting for me, love,

We both know I

Never should have came.

Somedays (Go down in flames)

I saw her today,

Walking into the

Majestic Cafe'.

Holding his hand,

That poor excuse

For a man.

Who would let her

Do those dirty things

Chasing after dollars.

Sometimes the world,

It makes me wonder.

Why everyone's so

Goddamn broken.

But mirrors keep

Me grounded,

Hypocrite reflections

In webbed silver.

I hope things get better.

It's hard

To be doing well,

Watching loved ones

Looking to suffer;

Some days I want

To go down in

Flames with you.

But there's always

That ghost, in mirrors

Lakes and window panes;

Telling me to keep

On with the path,

Not to give up faith.

But somedays

I want to.