red wine
stained our lips,
with clumsy hands
tracing moonlight
on your skin.
our love got sweeter
with each stolen kiss
and in those moments
i knew,
i would follow you
to any ruin.

I have seen
your garden

delicately
maintained

I have walked
through your garden

carefully

admiring the
colors

absorbing the
fragrances

I lean down
toward your

prized flowers

and kiss a rose
to show you

I am not
afraid to

bleed a little
for love

there are no jumping cows.

no fields where trees
grow upside down.

they sprout from dead leaves

rising to meet the tired old moon
as it hangs
from an indifferent sky.

it melts away
like rain on snow

for the tiger tooth chaffinch
to make its home
among gnarled ebony
and shattered bones.

and even though I'm
wicked as sin
with a view
to excess vagaries

they tell me
I should pray to god
I'm not sure what for.

A view obscured in clarity
Overlooked in surety
Determined by a nation
Inclined