Sleeplessness

A sleepless haze as days

pass on to nights and days

and days to nights—oblivion.

The sun sweeps past,

the days relapse

into darkness

and remorseless night

On and on.

The fist of dawn

shatters the glass of stars

with blood silver sparks

rain down upon

my shattered eyes

Blind.

I reproach the days

seep through

the pores of night

my only delight

the crazed music of the spheres.

Out of spite

my shadow and darkness

follow me

a web of static all I see.

The coming day answers my prayers

and still I am unsatisfied.
Sleep! I cry.

Sleep, or let me die.

In this great hall,

there are no mirrors.
Only the shattered remains

of what death has claimed.

Words Long Hoped For

Words long hoped for from a lover
Spoken
But lost on the wind
Carried
Past earless trees
Into towns
Distant
Through an open window
Into a bar
Where a bartender
Laughs
At a joke,
Past the drinkers
Who drink their drinks
Buried
Without a note,
Past window shoppers
Whose minds
Are fixed
On a price,
Tickles the underbelly
Of a seagull
Above the sea
Flying,
Inhaled by a zephyr
Blown to a distant country
Where a man on a patio
Drinks whiskey with ice
Expecting a muse
Listens to the thunder
The wind blows
And he writes.

Reconciliation

Between the walls of this canyon

That marks the border between

My enemy and I,

There is something that must be done.

A gravestone must be erected

And raised for Time itself.

I must cry out at the top of my lungs

The very name of God

That the echo might ring for eternity

And fill this empty place with song.

My enemy walks along this passage, too.

I can see the light from his candle

Flickering from far off in the dark.

For many sleepless nights

I have been awaiting this meeting,

And so too have those who have long since died.

With each step, I feel new guilt

And new reason to relent.

There is no turning back.

This vast space is now my only home.

The one I will share it with approaches.

Together, we will cleanse ourselves of our sins

And build a shrine with each other’s bones.

Lesson Learned From A Shadow

I have been so alert to the idea of death
I have almost completely forgotten I'm alive.
I have wasted years staring as hard as I could
Into the shadows, searching for a light,
While all along the sun was at the apex
Of the sky.
Beauty, I thought, was a blackness blacker than black,
The truth, a well-told lie.
But now a bird is singing inside my chest
And you, the apple of my eye
Taste sweet upon my lips.
The fog drifts away from the green mountains of my love,
The only shadow I can see,
The rainbow up above.

Cassidy (Restless Love)

We soared through our evenings

Well above the plane of our dreams

And flung ourselves upon the morning bells

Till our bodies themselves were song.

We danced with the weeping shadows

That lined the forgotten streets

And rocked together like ancient cats

Upon the chair of ecstasy.

The mourning dove on the windowsill

Mistook us for gods, laughed, and flew away.

We danced upon the broken glass

Of all our tainted yesterdays.

When the moon came yawning over the hills

Casting the fields in a silvery glaze,

We made fools of ourselves with restless love,

Moving from room to room 

And star to star.

We filled the universe with the scent

Of our flesh, and collapsed in our bed

Like water upon the rocks.

Jane, #1

I am the island in the ocean of your madness.

The dove that comes to me in my dreams

Speaks with your voice.

The rose of your dawn is blooming.

Like a cipher, I lay hidden 

In the folds of your mind.

Decipher me, and you will find love.

Slipping out of your breath

Comes an answer beyond your control.

It echoes down the corridors of your soul

Where each of your desires

Crouches behind their doors, listening.

They wait for you to come,

Let free the winds,

Let free the song.

And when the night arrives they keep a vigil

Hypnotized by the candles

Of their foolish belief.

These dreams dissolve into action,

Into words,

Into the ink upon this page.

These dreams dissolve for you.