Inspired by Maxfield Parish’s “The Dinky Bird”
 
 
On the clouds
   Of fruit-filled dreams
 
I dream
   Of castles
      And fairy tales
 
 
One ladder
   Each step—
      A movement in time
 
 
Falling along a road
   Looking at the sky
Each kiss a melody—
   The words, a broken cord
 
 

Abandoned streets
   Reveal a city’s state
From each I see
   Reflected light in clouds
 
The path I take
   Shows lights in neon red
From each a hill
   Above the midnight crowds
 
The birds are gone
   Departed sunset winds
A new moon came
   Between the wind-blown shrouds
 
Somewhere out there
   A green-filled gate awaits
For now I walk
   And sing this verse out loud

The moon has shadowed me, like stillborn air
Along a country road, adrift in threads,
Behind a worn out wheel, the pedals bare,
As time leaves nothing here but cast off dead.
 
I share these words with clouds in wind-washed treads,
Where rock-strewn shores in riddled dreams belie
And time has spun in tight a spider’s web
Of figures etched in deep the dusk-drawn sky.
 
With this in mind I set aside my clothes,
Now freshly pressed for travels lost, to where
The door is shut and all my business goes—
Who knows? —To sit in someone else's care.