Andromeda ears

 my cries would echo

to eternity 

if the vacuum of space

would allow it

but as my heart burned

when I discovered

you were who you were

my cries incinerate

in the upper atmosphere

never to reach your

distant Andromeda ears

only to collide 

in the next several

billion years

this gravity tore you apart

scattering your dust

among the stars

those dying lights

those lying celestial blips

that stole you away

to dim your eyes and close your lips

within the deep, cold chasm 

of silence

my cries try... try... try

Legatum draconis

steps on a precipice 

the ivory trumpets sound at night

under sickle moonlight

as the solar disc

is hurled out of the night sky

mountains

all we ever eat are mountains

not rivers that could quench

this thirst

not villages for us to bathe in blood

nor forests to burn

within our throats

but these piles of uprising stone

slabs and boulders and slides

so scratchy on the gullet

so heavy in the gut

to weigh our wings to the ground

these giants to tackle

that only time can topple

yet our roars pour out

into the night air

carried on the high winds

that usually carry us on our way

this shrilling thunder

throws them from their beds

pulls their courage from their spines

and curls them as a fern in reverse

this power pulls

it tears the weary from their heights

throwing them back

into the ovens within the Earth

with certainty all will succumb

to this gravity

but not yet, not tonight

Splattered drops

spewed view in the dying light

from tempest fane

the torrent sky subsides

to wiped lenses of the stars

singly standing in amber glow

your face illuminates 

from struck match's sulfur

reminiscent of your homeland

the smoke drifts from your face

into twilight shrugs

while your expression shines

from the shadow of your hat's brim

a grin as you look my way

for the growing dark can't keep

our appearances as strangers

you could single me out

from the pebbles on the beach

or the drops in the ocean if needed

you've always been that falcon

hovering in the air above my rabbit fur

have I always been so willing

to bend my neck to your sword

to succumb to the serpentine hypnosis

your grin still beckons with this eve

this night when the rain has passed

I thought the tears would too

to finally bid rid of you

the shadow that won't leave my tracks

no matter where or how fast I run

you are the breath on my neck

revving the accelerator of my pulse

choking my breath with your embrace

this embrace I sent for by invitation

unknowing the twist in my choice

mistaken glory from back alleys

and nirvana found in chemical release

tethering temptation with love

a love to never own or realize

for love is never owned or prized

but taken for granted and thrown...

your grin says it all tonight

lays out all the regrets and crimes

you know my heart too well my friend

I've entertained my guilt too long

The Court of Crows

 the King of Crows yawns

the sun to sleep at dusk

for the world to gaze upon

the scattered lights of the dead

hidden deep within the king's throat

the Queen of Crows shows

the world her husband's throat

by hanging a lantern on a rod

and slowly passes it by his mouth

from when it opens to when it shuts

the Knave of Crows forgets

sometimes to fill the lantern up

his queen uses at the end of a rod

and so it dims slimmer and darker

until he's beaten and fills it once again

the Lord of Crows whispers

his list of names he beckons home

causing the lights of the dead to flicker

even knocking some of them over which

fall from the throat of the yawning king

In gardens

 in gardens

you're always aware

of the temporary

the constant waves

of changing blooms

that each have their

own days of splendor

in shining sun

and falling rain

each unfurling leaf

to display its glory

at peak of chlorophyll

only to intensify near

its finality and frailty

in gardens

you're always aware

there's never a lonely flower

its company is constant

in that it's never the same

from sipping bees and flies

to pecking beaks of birds

and snipping scissor blades

in gardens 

you're always aware

of the conversation

the sultry words of

sun baked helianthus

and cicada songs dripping

from the silky lily lips

the colored fruits sweetened

by the shortening days

when cold cabbage mornings

give way to crisp kale eves

and burning frost

blackens flora crowns

in the pale kiss of winter

which surrenders and melts

in the choir of crocus breath

and rays of daffodil suns  

August lamentation

the surrender to the mystery

is the end of ego

where swallowed up

is all the layers liken to self

where trees bend into metal spheres

that orbit around dragon tails

and wreaths of worn out souls

as flesh is a heavy burden

heavier still all to hold on to

beyond golden fortune, castles

and crowns, simply each other

the you I've known 

and the I you once knew

these glimpses fading in each sunset

consumed by constant rotation

and severed by sharp stylus playback

for the earth's song is made of

the screams of letting go 

the beating of wings

taking flight into the night

into the surrender of the mystery

The next

 he has breathed the land

the inhales his yesterdays

the exhales of what is next

where turbulence took him

on flights between pavement

and swirling sapphire he's lost in

the clouds hiding what is next

that is where he always aims

the mystery of the horizon

bearing all its promised new

in burning golden scarlet hue

lapping the burnt out candle lights

that wax and wane with the jealous moon

that only wishes to fly as fast as he

rushing to the just out of reach next

on a sea of land that ebbs in his soul

passing semis with cattle cargo

passing farmers going just a little farther

and families knowing not where they jaunt

for all of them tread on his wings

on his escape from mundane musings

he fears those might be the end of him

as it repeatedly and rapidly pounds on his chest

"What's next?"