•    
i've
   witness-
   ed the others
   fall over several
sets•leaving you alone
shivering on a spindly twig
•the winds of autumn had whis-
pered their threats...•to sweep you
off your perch into the world so big
•the season had almost gone to make
way for another•answering the sum-
mons of winter's call•had anticipated
the coming of your departure•...i had  
sworn to myself to catch you as you'd  
fall•for a brief moment, i had turned  
away•to tend to commitments that  
came with dawn...•i returned to  
stay and wait another day...•  
but the wind had come  
while i was
g
o
n  
e•    
.

Sometimes-- I'm illness
-Breeding pores,
And 'yes' I can feel them.

When I cut through skin-
Searching for inner beauty
--as I've lost mine-

These fingers,
Squelch over weaving's and wraps
Inside-
It's warm red here,
Almost mulled wine evenings--

There's suppression on
Your blink-less face
In tearing lips,
Yet--

You smile.

As you feel my hands rummaging,
Through-broken-ribs in
'Hopes' of stroking lungs-
Only--breathless-slow-motion
Memories occur.

And instead I stab
That precious heart with
Unwarranted lonely,
I'm breeding-on-the-mess
I've made--

Staring-at-the-pieces,
I'd been drinking--
A carcass of iridescent beauty.

White river running
Delicately
Ethereal glow of
Twilight hues
Suffusing the atmosphere
Stark purple

Grass covered in aftermath
Of night's freezing cold
Miniature icicles
Tapering on mossy rocks
Melting with the sun's
Scattered rays
Unruffled indulgence
Bone-chilling splendour
In the arms of the mountain mist

This feeling is
No longer tradable
With rigor mortis
In the cartilage of
Tiny-spider-toes
All-patient-pink.

And that beguiling notion,
Wearing an anthem
From Tartarus--

Evolves us as readers-
As we touch the bark and know--
It's the snow that tells us we're cold.
Spreading norn's with sheathe-less
Silence crafting cobble-stone antics,


Through visceral attics
And cankering taste-buds.