A vial of shadows, languid
Rests upon an outstretched hand
A viscous and vaporous oil
Accompanied by a stretching smile

Or a sneer?
Smothered by slick veneer
Fingers clink on the tonic, and
Colours spring to life
Vivacious and clonic

"Drink deep of this truth, my child
receive strength, wisdom and guile!
For this great gift, I ask only your time
                                                            ­          and a dime
                                                                         (or two dozen)     
                                                     ­        
One hundred percent success
A modern panacea, no less
It only fails, you see, if
You fail to believe"

Reach out
Retract
Incorporeal vapours streak black

Through fog unseen
Beyond perception
Known by absence
Unknown meaning

Chasms lacerate
Splitting Earth
Welcoming the abyss

Ahead, bridges extend
Path well-travelled
Beginning, middle
End?

Many pass through
All disappear
No goodbye
No-one can hear

A curtain pulled back
My turn to step forward

Can't

Hollow strained branches
clutching at mist
Drained dry by tortured mind's eye
The Paper Men venture forth

Upon sea of stalagmite
'board vessel of flint
bones of cracked tinder
Flesh rotting parchment

"Torch the ocean!"
"Drown water in flame!"
Nothing can't burn
When ignited by blame

Dead beauty
Waiting for winds of change
Light of day
Comfort of tender rays

Fingers of fingers
Desperately grasping
Scratching at smothering grey
Beseeching fickle favour

Detritus, latent bounty
Seeping from soil
Leaves long lost spoil
Filling lungs, blood, mind

The wood snakes and writhes
Strangling and dividing
Bearing vivid green hue
Harbouring harsh truth

Morgue made art
Quater-circles, four deep
Enraptured by stone mesmer
Buried by rusted hedge

Scattered eyes of red
Unseen and unseeing
Forgotten by warmth
lost to being