What Hope Remained?

What hope remained when hope for hope was spent?
        When putrid plumes dulled morning into night
        Hope lived in heart-struck deeds of bold intent,
        As mortals wept and earthborn angels went
        With downcast eyes to clamber heavens height.

What hope remained when hope for hope was spent?
        When panicked sirens wailed a lost lament
        And backs were bowed beneath ungodly weight,
        Hope lived in heart-struck deeds of bold intent
        As boots bore souls up treadmills burnt and bent
        To scale a void devoid of dawning light.

What hope remained when hope for hope was spent?
        For those in sight of angels heaven sent
        Atop the world to aid their mortal plight,
        Hope lived in heart-struck deeds of bold intent.

        When wingless brethren conquered feared ascent
        To gift last hope to all who saw their might:

                What hope remained when hope for hope was spent?
                Hope lived in heart-struck deeds of bold intent.



In The Fall

I chanced upon a stranger in the fall,
Cosmetic garb of office black and white
Portraying calm demeanor of his plight
As shadows panicked on a stricken wall,

And oft' I find my mind in numb recall
To look upon that helpless human kite
Who tumbled from the terrors of a height,
Yet graceful as an eagle in a stall

Before it plummets earthward --   'Neath the pall
Of twisted steel rended by follied flight,
That stranger lives forever in the light
Suspended in iconic timeless sprawl.

        I wonder, in the briefness of his fall,
        Did he derive the meaning of it all?

Escaped have I from bitter chains, from older captive hands
All there is are memories for me of solid land
Only clouds and sky and sea, only clouds and sky and sea
I have found, dear mother sea, that father sun, he calls
Free as a bird upon wax wings with the gods
Only clouds and sky and sea, only sky and sea and me

I have raised myself upon the brim to fly forever more
Fly not to high, they ask of me, or find Poseidon's door
Fear not love, onward I come, a god upon wax wings
To the stars, oh, to the sun, you'll find I too shall cling
To the sun I climb, dear soul, to the sun I climb... oh no

Brilliant sun, why do you lay such heated words on me
Causing this god to become boy again, with wax melting
One last kiss, one last touch, one last beckon and call
One last thing Helios sing, "dear foolish child, FALL"
So have moments turned from me, so must I turn down to sea

Time stands still as if its will's to see my follied ways
Tracing back the time I had before this fall, this flight, the chains
Mother sea, be kind to me as your arms open wide
The son you take, the heart you break, as your wave takes me inside
To scream terror as wax and feather fall into te sea
And tears that fall but can't be found... dear father, forgive me

I will be in my new mother's arms forever more
Never again to see the light of day, never to see the shore
And when sandy beach does meet your eye and sun rise once again
I pray land and live, your son forgive until you too descend

Pray do not forget the tragic tale or sorrowful, little me
Who at first glance had a chance to touch stars, but fell to sea
And I beg you, dry tears from your eyes, do not cry again
For whether land or sea, we'll meet once more, for both are mortal ends
Listen with open hearts, with listening eyes, unfaltered in your core
Reach for sun, dear soul, with humbled hands or see Poseidon's door

Only clouds and sky in view, Only clouds and sky... and you...

Could it really be
Those snow-cold line of lips
Harbored desperate kisses
That once melt away the night?
\Oh raisin'd heart of love departed!
Empty am I whose love is follied
By the mockery
That is now friendship

She walks, her hand trails a memory behind, alone in a crowd with thoughts to be her friend, follows a path that never ends. Around and around, a way that seeks not to find, the truth. The truth? Fever burns beyond your eyes, embers are threatening to die out. When you scream and shout there’s no sound in your words. Held back by a tendril so soft and wary, umbilical in nature, empty in force. No force, no faith, no way. She wraps her hair around your mind, blinded you are by her night. Darkness follows the light. Light follows the day. Come what may.

All that I have left of you is half a cup of tea, more than a half an hour of your time. More than half a lifetime spent unwinding time, til it slips from your hand burning from your touch with thoughts about her. For where she touched your palm an imprint lies untamed. Forced by nature, the universe calls your name, taints your shame and holds your hand. Words unplanned. Words despite words. Movement in the air, tear and tear. Find the difference? She holds it there in her smile, beauty untouched for a while. Heavens are unknown to man, but women whisper in corners about paradise follied.

Her eye, they are not seen to be beheld. Watched as no-one sees. Who are you? Who are you? An explosion beneath my chest, rapid oceans cannot hold me down, I float, I float, I float away towards you. Gravity, grave in its subject, deep and shallow, two separate wheels turning in motion to the rhythm of my mind. Just a little bit of imagination is needed here. And I seek, I do not fear, your retribution is but a figment of my imagination. You will go, you will hide, you will fidget standing my side, my side. How you are oblivious to the jigsaw we are. I drain my drink and watch the stars.

You are pure imagination. You are wisdom made delight. I wish for sweet nothings, I wish for you by candlelight. I think of you and dance, I think of you and close my eyes, I think of you, I think of you. She lets me fly, and swoop and fall. Who am I to call on you? I feel you next to my skin, where do you begin, where do I end, who am I to pretend? A favourite memory to make, created with fortune misled. I think about you in my head. She will, she will follow and fade, a star to compare to the night. Will you lead me? A secret in her mouth, waiting to jump out, waiting to shout. Actions speak louder than words, and I never heard her speak

What happened while
the manuscripts choked?
Lighter shoulders,
stranger testaments.

Pardons reflect an ark
where shine means shout,
wind means worship,
and we stopped placing wonder
on anyone's elegy.

I used to be so young and severe,
trembling under any movement.
I played a ghost
until I became one.

I'd be crimped into vails,
rushed through verses,
roused from rest;
sighing
and hunting for your hand.

Echoes of ether-
loose-limbed and hearkening,
barely blinking;
saluting fences,
planting poems,
heeding baby-teeth.

Interred with you in
this chaos,
this grass-
fermenting fate
forevermore.
We tried to rise,
but failed to become the sky.

Since you cannot
take testimony seriously,
I had to rip it out-
our two wills colliding,
our pine coffins dissolving.

I was buried with jewels in
my open palms;
still offering,
still not atoned.

Your hands were buried empty
with nothing to answer for,
still tense,
still clenched in fists.

We harbor things-alive from our dead parts;
mice warm in your nest of ribs,
beetles declare squatters rights
in the tent of my pelvis and
raise flags from hip-bone heights.

Worms slink along fingers
and unite our pieces in peace.
In life we follied;
underfoot we fuel.
Tenable terrain,
we transform tomorrow tender.

The manuscripts soften to us,
the archives are kind.
We let ourselves sink into the rattle
and double into strange dust
so that new things
become.
blooming from us.