3000 days of summer
of living in the light
of dancing with our loved ones
love burning fearless bright
no shadow can take that from us
nor cast shade upon our dawn
our memories define us
the weave will not be torn

A dim half-world
of riven skittering skies
under three shining stars
Scattered smoking ruins
mark the graves of potential
The poison in my veins
from pre-recorded history
Utterly inescapable

Seas of sorrow
give unquenchable thirst
Catharsis but
an unreachable headland.
Ramparts of reason and rationale
blow away like tinder
in the thin listless breeze

The only path forward
a trudge into the gloom.
Wolves skulk
their eyes gleaming
from surrounding shadows
They know only blood.
Patiently, relentlessly
waiting for that first
Bite

Take a drag of my cigarette
Look up
and smile bitter sweet
For having found
those beautiful stars
for a time
I’ve known peace

Wondrous miracle
Golden shards weave through green arms
Lost by tiny screens

Lately night demons
armed with maps and
searching questions
are slain and drained
with little pain.
I walked barefoot
over broken glass
But if it wasn’t thus
it wouldn’t be me
with you now us
So I wouldn’t change
the smallest iota;
you’re where
I’m supposed
to be

I hear their voices calling
from arboreal gloom
The things in the forest
luring children to their doom

The pumpkin faces grimace
glistening in the dusk
Mist rising in the darkness
A cloying hanging must

A cursed hollow in the depths
Gnarled faces in the bark
Gentle songs waft on the wind -
then screaming in the dark

Villagers search frantically
kin missing from their bed
a hopelessness and sorrow
and endless, gnawing dread

Rivers of gold and red
collide o’er carpets of must
Flow to frozen fronds
caught in shimmering
shrouded white mists

Melting in longer days
to heavy dewy scents
of saps and green alchemy
twisting, sensing, exploring
transcending nights

Starlit glass sparkles
reflecting the roar
of maelstrom mirages
the could-be but-isn’t
trapped and impatient
like a pacing lioness

The distant hills brood today
cloaks of mist streaming skyward
stealing colour from the world
Sunlight bleeds faintly
through an ethereal wall
The frozen air a watercolour wash