You can't stop saving the people
you know you shouldn't help.
They are the shadows on the walls at night
that call out your name in your dreams.
There are no tomorrows for them,
just the insecurities of yesterday.
You haven't learned to say "No."
and it kills you every time
the words don't come out.

Taken out of context
this is an end.

The light of a half
sun has spilled over
the horizon, caked in peach
and the cream of clouds
that the trees in our yard
have bruised the bottoms of.

But what if-
the stars are glowing in
the canvas sky
and the light flickers through
the blinds to pierce
our drowsy eyes? If
the birds are ruffling their feathers
on the fence outside and
the grass is starting dew,

is this still an end?
taken out of context
this is the beginning.

The last rays of starshine broke
up the northern skies
shoved their finger
into the crevices
the horizon cut into the land so
that tomorrow could hide
from yesterday on back
there had been some inconsistencies :

the sun beat the moon to rising
waves stood stock still in rows
of porcelain twilight and - -
The last rays of starshine broke up

i'm afraid to fall asleep
to your faerie lullabies and
find you in a dream, just
whispers in my ear.
can you see the
sorrow on my breath?

i can only taste the rattle
of your bones like sulfur and petals,
like poison.
you are wilted and rotting
in my arms,
the decay of an orchid.

your beauty spent, but
i'll still pillow the pieces
of you that I find in my
hair and under my sheets,
against my tongue and pray
you're still warm.

there are bodies in the water
again palms turned up like lilies
petalled fingers curling for the sun

his face has started to turn
blue as the shadows on the banks
greener than the sides of the fish
eating at the hole his rib left

she looks like eve with leaves
caught in her hair and her eyes sewn
shut mouth cut in a smile

and I pray god isn't watching
their decay as I push another
off the pier

There is a war in his bones, &

the violets have lost their colours

between gunfire & shrapnel.

Like petals in the sand, roasting in the

sun’s stare,

the photograph of the woman

he met in Chu Lai has faded.

He can’t remember what her face

looked like once she was buried.

Vô danh was carved into her headstone.

The final sounds of trumpets fade
in the wake of Horsemen's hooves
after the day of Resurrection,
making way for Adrianna & Edgar.
The last woman & man.

Only this time,
Lucifer made man
from the skin on the bottom
of woman's feet.

She could not decide
whether that meant she was
allowed to tread on him or not.

Instead of creation,
in seven days there was destruction.
The earth tore and buildings crumbled,
leaving spindle arms
like the branches of so many fleshy trees  
sticking out of the rubble.

Adrianna pauses here & wonders
if she should imitate the gesture,
throw her palms to the sky
and wave at the shadows of dying sun.