sparrow song incense oath
wings stunted in their growth
deaf hands fell on mute lips
like windsong through sunken ships

fiending bones refuse to knit
flowers wilt out of habit
the oldest tune sung with shame
willows whisper out its name

leaves buried in muddied frost
skin grows over to covet loss
crows that cry just to forget
lungs forged out of breath

lumber that lingers in the fog
losing sequence through tarnished bog
mossen coffin, wooden rust
remembers a day it once stood up

fire crackles loudest before it dies
wolves howl most with the moon arise
stars that try to swindle the sun
and a venom that dares to spare no one.

among wood ears and twig eyes
is an incense oath rising nigh
like a river that swallows but does not keep
or a tired sewer that never sleeps.