from the shore
where I can see it all
as it floats away
 
to some other land
where the sun continues to shine
for centuries
 
and treetops
sway in the wind
filling the grass
with wandering pollen
 
          *
 
worn out
like a flag flown
for many years
 
          *
 
alone here
where your lips once
had left a mark
 
          *
 
once

The friends we had, the friends we left
Along the siren streets
A signal past, a thousand thefts
In red light, white light beats
 
Oh, where can I rest in this hidden town
As wind comes whistling through
In light and dark, as it rains down,
A dancer flails there too
 
Somewhere she dwells, the chastised nun,
A remnant work of whim
Perhaps it’s one or maybe none
She waits and waits for him
 
The courtyard halls where beauty haunts
In bellows of burial bells
At night it sleeps its lot of want
A city that burns in hell

 
I.
 
Upon the hills
The air was dry
And dead trees hung
Beneath the sky
 
As cold wind blew
The snowflakes fell—
A frozen kiss
From icy hell
 
The boy was young
Of thirteen years
His father weak
And full of fears
 
The trail grew bleak,
They couldn’t see
And as it snowed
The boy did plea
 
“My father, now
The path is nigh
Without some warmth
We’re soon to die”
 
“My son, Noël,
Let’s shelter take
Within that shed
By Frozen Lake”
 
It howled long