wisps of dawn
in rhythmic intervals
trickle down in the dark
flooding the night

woolen dreams damp
heavy on the line
shrinking to half the size
the dress I wear tonight

you say hi
and I undress
morals quiet down
engaged in acrobatics
of extramarital art
rendered mortals
fleeting the charge
of forbidden desire
in dark corridors
and numbered rooms
beneath my ribs
where our hopes riven
by uncertain goodbyes

take me to the place
where you outstare the night
with the pleiades burn out
teach me like the sea to flow
of the shore be the ebbing tide
help me comb the leafless trees
and sweep our trails from the snow
so no one knows we're lost
and try to collect our bones
let them think we will return
as the murmur of the wind
don't make me sing with dried up lungs
just take me to where I am not

midnight curling in my hair
soigné drapery in tangled disguise
cascading indolently down my back
and on my fingers twined
sinuous complexity in every strand
fringing the pride in my eyes

I imagined it all
it was cold, umber, decaying
turned a dim monotone
the last standing, trembling
wishing the shadows undone

but crueler than the nightmare
of our hideous mocking despair
was the beauty, the peace
the purity of the earth amiss

I died a week ago
it was caught on tape
in shallow depth of field
my very last breath