The Unfulfilled, Departing

Quiet steps fade into a gentle abyss of dissolution,
Leaving a last look, a tender kiss
To linger among the phantoms of a coal black night.
They would never meet again.

Star crisp clarity, an eternal impassive curtain of life
Drawing across his theatre of sorrows,
Closing down a short incandescent episode
That pierced the daily dross.

Own breath taints the frigid air; moist, pointless exhalation.
Life left laden with loss.
Last warmth, last smile, last light touch burns within.
Within, a cramped circle of self-doubt.

A car door crashes against an all too natural silence.
He felt eyes and minds upon him;
The emotion hungry, trawled up disembodied dead
Crowding a cold lonely wood.

An old man will dreamwalk a bright stage with no audience,
Embrace a girl girded with gentle grace-
To fall back, crawl back upon
The cross of reality, nail driven to an orthopaedic chair.