I jumped into a gleaning pool
And falling through a window,
I slipped into a setting world
Of dying suns and waning light
Scorched by fire and cracked by ice
This oscillation of two extremes
Had wrung it tight and left it limp
A withered world between the seams

And with no bridge or exit sign
I passed my time in wandering
To see what wonders might be left
Within this desert scene

Down swept my ghost like steps
Along some winding dusky path
Until I reached a sea in stillness
as if dead from some gods wrath
And I swam those warm still waters
As paling suns began to sink
So paler stars might ***** all parts
Of all my eyes could drink

And diving down into the silence
I smiled sweetly within the deep
While rising back at my own risk
Heaven itself began to weep

The stars themselves served as tears
Dripping down the faceless sky
Burning out in the atmosphere
Burning bright, afraid to die
Burning up they screamed to earth
And with dull thuds of finality
They landed cleaving sea and land
Only I in peace went free

And on that smooth black sandy beach
I stood and watched them rise and fall
With the water still lapping listless
separate yet a part of all

The need like a scream
Rings in and rattles out the skull
Echoing down the spine
From hairline to tailbone
While lips that long to touch a kiss
Trace simple lines of elegance
From blushing cheek to curvy hips
Exploring skin with tender tips
As wanting mouths begin to moan
While gasping breath on breath
They groan at the twist of sin
In silk on skin; like wild beasts
They roam

The battle is not won or lost
But I am finished with it
Sword hanging limp in hand
Armour bloodied and bent
Once Galahad, now Gawain
Young yet wounded, I stand and stare
An errant knight without king or cause
I spur my horse with weapon raised
And prepare to charge again

The beat down, down trodden
Beatific, angelic hooligans
On the page, on the road
Driving down in search of
  It
The place where it is at
In that jazz rhythm
And bebop that began
With a big bang and
May end in a whimper
But I don't think so
No, I don't thinks so

Cold and lonely sights like these
Scare and push me toward the ******
Of nights I knew so well when I was young

Of closing bars and empty lots
Nightly walks and ***** thoughts
Things I'd thought my frozen hands had wrung

But now they're back and tempting me
In silent forms that I can't flee
Like an image some old musician once had sung

White light on white skin on soft sheets
As slender figures stir and wake
With the rise of gentle breaths
That comingle in cool air
That warms them to each other
With touches that are so new
In depth and texture that
They gasp to sigh with stuttered breath
And revel in the soft kiss of soft lips

A bleak night, a hallowed night
Bathed in haunting silver light
By the hanging moon over head in fullness
Which shows the way for my feet through the wood
That is empty in this season of deadness
With the space between these barren trees
Filled with sound of blowing winds
That whip the leaves round me blinding
Lifting by heart from listless binding
As I walk this cold stark winter path
To vainly search in hope of finding
A permanent place to live and laugh