talismen
           align
               'neath onyx skies
                         lift
                           crystal *****
                                     filled with
                                                visions
    ­                                                   of
                                         magic,
                        malevolence
             musings
alchemy
               creates
                       golden chalices
                                                to hold
                                           the wine
                                 of illusion
                    sorcerers
             casting
spells
      pixies
             sprinkling
                               dust
                                       spiders spinning
                                  orbs
             whose gossamer
threads
                      capture tales
                                           of
             ­                                    kings
                       ­                                      castles
                   ­                            princesses ~
                                 wizard wands
                         meander
               across
the night sky's
                     wilderness
                              rearranging stars
                                               into patterns
                                                        ­   to be read
                                                as words ~
                            cryptic languages
                        wishing
                 insight
              into
mysteries
            opaque
         ­               clouded
                                      hidd­en
                                                    locked
   ­                                       within
                                  soldiers
                   and samurai
seek the key
                 while dragons
                                      breathe
                  ­                                   flames
                                                          ­ of  passion
                                                    ­     into
                                      the cauldron
                              that lights
                     the banks
of a river
              of dreams
                        cliffs rise
                                along the edge
                                     casting shadows
                            that plunge deep
                         to nightmares
                 hearts climb
and fall again
                   caught by
                                      the jagged edges
                                                           ­     of love
                                                  and bitter
                                    melancholy
           ­              climb and fall
                  again
bewitched,
                beguiled
                         becharmed
                                        by incantations
                                     to
                   the moon
goddess

So this is my life now

I swear, it must have happened while I was asleep

I wake

And you are in the desk drawer, divided between us three

Because I do not know where she should go

I haven't made it there yet

Putting my creator in the ground

Mixed with the bugs and so many worms

My ash love

My Mother of bone

Can you tell me then what it means

When the ones who gave me life are dead

And all of the proverbial ships have sailed

I am left crafting an uncalled for exit

I think of you little mummy
When the snow gathers round your gravestone
Creeping up the sides of the white marble
Touching the words with its soft hands
Covering the overturned urn
As the last flowers lay like a fan
Uniting you and daddy
Under the lightest eiderdown.

Love Mary your daughter .