Summer had ended with its cotillion of afternoon pimms and powdered smiles A hanging jury of crows in the apple orchard muttered as the breeze stirred The crisscross wires that slashed the fragile sky buzzed like cicadas And another creak, louder this time, resonated from the orchard Ripples on the wishing pond broke her reflection
In a sticky slow I hit six again again again, the machine cold and unyielding My life mist fevered snow globe memories on the glass Earthly worries rising embers sparking in my veins But there was something else, a whisper She needs to be daring she needs to see The lights went out as
Yours was a one size fits all kind of love My starless black and your cloudy blue Your square in my star shaped void Leaves empty points Yours was a copy paste kind of love Stamped to the tacky canvas of my soul Slipping and sliding on a bloody mess Your vision unwavered Yours was
And then there are the dreams when I become him. The cold creeping sludge seeping up through my soles Filling my legs and I rise flimsy high and hateful Treading unearthly imprints into the faded mossy carpet Up the curved stairs, one, two, three then creak Watching hushed through the rails as the landing clock
Let’s go to our sacred place, over the bridge where the tulips smile Touch the silk and handmade lace and stay awhile Let’s go to the café without a name, under the domes in mosaic shade Drink spiced tea from a tiny glass, and nibble on the candied figs Let’s go sit under trees by
And that’s when she ran through the buttercups Laughing as the wind blew, her dress catching on the stalks Of wildness ahead of her Limbs falling over limbs, tumbling into fields of yellow Fingers grasping everything, petals that she never knew Dropped her ring into the stream, endless depths of flowing green Sunlight dancing on
He kept the long ago wrapped in the softest tissue paper Now his hands gingerly opened the faded velvet fold A fragile petal corpse, shriveled inside her snowy coffin Her veiny amethyst colour truly once was azure bold A salty tear will not wake the sleeping beauty in his palm No bigger than his thumbnail
His shipwreck haunts me tonight, a waking lullaby I’m obsessed and it summons me down to play My dress vanishes into treacle blue, anchor heavy Pearls glide from me, an eternal translucent loop “There’s nothing for you down there” but he’s waiting With cerulean kisses and that long familiar touch His cobalt kingdom envelops me
