Tomorrow breaks along the horizon
But its faraway, still
There’s time for the darkness to grow
But oh what light it holds.

It’s a wide world we live in
The stars in the sky
Painted with the permanence of impermanence
Blot out the unforgiving,
Unfeeling
Nature that holds them in place.

But they’re just projected fossils
On a screen that floats above our heads.
Their sparkle only a reminder of their struggle
To live until the sunlight fades again.

Tomorrow grows stronger
Waves break along the shore of my mind.
The ocean is vast,
But float long enough,
I’ve come to realize,
And you’ll always find land.

I used to only use the stars to navigate
The harsh light of the sun
Burning away the map they set out for me.

Now I grit my teeth and welcome it
It doesn’t burn as much anymore.

Softly child softly
Skitter through the fields to the ruined city
Stand on the outskirts and wonder
Who could have destroyed this?
Wonder
Who could have torn down these arches?
On tiny feet approach
Tread softly child, softly

Over the red dust
Across the desolate plains
Toward the hint of the fallen city.
Foot falls like gentle rain
Wonder mixing with innocence and love
Softly, child

Skip around the rim
Dance with the choice of stepping where none have
On bold feet; Be courageous..
But curiously, child. Softly

Step inside the bounds
Find its dark destroyed corners, and
marvel at the wear of time
Wonder, child

In the epicentre
From which the salt earth extends
A small circle of pearls
Plant a seed
child, thoughtfully

Water it with your tears
Shelter with body and belief
And watch as this seed take
Tend the vines, then
Cultivate the ground with your love
Softly, child

Now sit..
Sit, child
And weep.
Not in shame
Nor sorrow, despair or anguish at loss
Let the marvel of your hands very creation
Fuel your tears
Weep for the subtle nature
Weep for the one who came before
My beautiful child

Now smile
As eyes slowly cloud
As memory finally becomes sight
And lungs now strive for air
Let go
And be at rest, finally as all things
Sleep child.
Peace.

She's aching again, you feel it in the way your heart tugs, in the way you cannot breathe because it hurts, hurts, hurts. You're vomiting nothing into the toilet, haven't been able to keep anything down for days now. Deep down you know its because you are scared that she too will leap from the pit and wash down the drain. The kind of leaving no one comes back from.
So you're screaming now, hoping that promises of 'always' and 'you will never do this alone' hit home. Yet you have never known an always, just a lot of almosts and you are terrible at letting people in your world because you believe your destiny reads loneliness. But for her you'd be anything, anything at all to know she is here and breathing even if that means becoming something of permanence rather than the leaf in the wind you wrote yourself to be.
So you sit making promises of forever and always for the first time in your life because even though you always have one foot over the edge you'll do anything to get her to take a step back, because you love and she aches, because you love and can't help but feel all her pain.

and until the rivers run dry,
until the evergreens fade,
until the gods stop cursing,
until the sun falters on its path,
until the seasons fail to change,
until the fish forget how to swim,
until the music loses its beauty,
until the stars turn black,
until all this...
a woman's heart will still break
each time she realizes that
she couldn't change him

Time trickles down rocky faces.
The world is teetering on the edge of existence,
Its mountains sheared and valleys flooded.
She calls out night and day to ears deafened by
   The gears of progress,
   The clinking of gold,
   And the seductive voices of legacy and permanence.

But time trickles down rocky faces,
Wearing away the marks we fought so hard to leave behind...
There are whispers in the wind,
Echoes in the deep dark unknown:
   Only one thing will endure,
   Only one thing will not weather.

They were lightened by kindness;
For a soul once shown love
Always carries a little warmth
Into the coldness of forever.

You smell like rain
kissing dry earth. Your
magnificent torso rises
over buttocks I want
to sculpt. Your skin is softer
than cocoa butter and I am

lost. In your eyes, I see
stories. In your taste, I forget.
The rhythm of your heartbeat
lulls me to safety. But
will you stay to steep
the tea? Or halve my pills?

Everywhere is mulch and moss.
And fog and despair. But I come
back to the smell of rain.
And wait
for the sun to shine.

I urge you to object your permanence
for nothing in this world is permanent.

© Matthew Harlovic