would have known her in a crowd of a thousand
******* and genitalia had been carved with elaborate care
these are the gods who have been forgotten
their last priests died without passing on their secrets
ideas are more difficult to be killed than people
like pebbles dropped o by o into a deep
n n
e e
w e l l
they navigated the green sea
by the stars
by the shore
when the shore was only a memory
the night sky overcast and dark
by the faith
the sun as distant and cold as a dull silver coin
ice crystals on the asphalt
glittered like diamonds in the morning sun
the world in the mist had become a pencil drawing
executed in a dozen different grays
when the shadows are long
that is my time
and you are the long shadow
the moonlight drained colors into ghosts of themselves
take the leap from the leafless
and dance on nothing until the dancing was done
we travel a spiral where
the quickest way is sometimes the longest
at night you're rubbing yourself against wormfood
slick as a snake in a barrel of butter
patches of white against an iron-grey sky
each a lacework of fractal art
touching your tongue with cold and winter
kissing your face with its hesitant touch
before freezing you to death