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the moon lights a bed of frost.
the wind a storyteller.

are the stars and the sea
still there
when the sky weeps white?

the moon lights a bed of frost.
the wind is a storyteller

and the griffons know the failure
of flesh, flesh and bones

and feeling the bones
in my crooked nose,
I understand sunrise
is not a guarantee.

the sky weeps white.

but the nightingale sometimes
sings to me of you in my dreams.


...(if the nightingale sings of me
then know I hear her too.)
If you look up
Is it there?
All I see is air
Why do I raise
my arms up
hoping that God
hears my prayer

Is it some kind
of wicked game
we play ?

I never dreamed
I would meet
someone like you

What a deception
fast of feet
What a reception
so incomplete

I raise my
empty hands up
asking God
"Where is my love ?"
Can sweeping moths settle,
Sink neatly, swathed by shadow
Onto lightly curling leaf.

On white fluorescent light
They are blinded, and
Are spun in carousel circles.

My light blinds me too,
Keeps my eyes spinning
In carousel circles.
Near or far away
Your God will love you either way
High or low to the floor
Your Jesus still waits at the door
Happy or broken to bits
The Holy Spirit still persists
It's never been about the state you your being
You've been loved since the very beginning
54

If I should die,
And you should live—
And time should gurgle on—
And morn should beam—
And noon should burn—
As it has usual done—
If Birds should build as early
And Bees as bustling go—
One might depart at option
From enterprise below!
’Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with Daisies lie—
That Commerce will continue—
And Trades as briskly fly—
It makes the parting tranquil
And keeps the soul serene—
That gentlemen so sprightly
Conduct the pleasing scene!
There is a land called Palestine
Where treacherous oppressors are doing crimes

Children crying of hunger
Mothers mourning all day for their children
Father sacrificing for their families

"Ooo"! Muslims they're your brothers
"Ooo"! People they are humans

So spread your hands and pray for them
For they deserve freedom
The gall ink slid slow across the grain
not just black, but silent breathing.
It curled where silence might remain,
where truth lay soft and seething.

It danced in fibers, not for show,
but for the ache of meaning
each line a pulse, a moment letting go,
each word a quiet keening.

The letter held no voice or name,
just petals and a thread.
But still the ink remembered flickering flame
long after it was said.

And when the lamp gave one last sigh,
its breath a final stain
the ink still moved, too bold to die,
alive upon the grain.
07 August 2025
Ink Over the Grain
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
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