A bed of crushed orange
leaves stain the
night with tart,
intoxicating
aromas of sunshine
long departed.

Lingering only in the
warmth radiating
out
from the trails
his fingers
follow.

He bites into the fruit
tearing skin and
flesh.
Flesh that bleeds
spilling a sunset
of sweetness across
the pale.
Shadowed only by
passion.

Pursued by insatiable tiredness
that drives me to lethargy.
I am drowning in ambivalence.
I crave oblivion.
As if sleep, protracted sleep
could cure my malaise.
~~~~~~~~~~
Top


Purification

A sacrifice of blood.
A cut, a slash,
a measured flow of devils.
An ephemeral release
of the tortured spirits
that inhabit my soul.
A fleeting glimpse
of a better life.
Freedom.

I do not eat,
I do not care.
I cannot breathe,
there is no air.

There is no air,
there is no hope.
I cannot breathe,
I cannot cope.

I cannot cope,
I cannot sleep.
There is no air,
I've gone too deep.

I've gone too deep,
there is no path.
I cannot breathe,
I do not laugh.

I do not laugh,
I do not smile.
There is no air,
I taste the bile.

I taste the bile,
I want to end.
I cannot breathe,
I cannot mend.

I dream of the dark.
The shadows,
the abyss.
The edges
which I stand upon,
and push against
and lean toward.
A morbid fascination
with the depths
that call my name.
The sirens speak
with honeyed tongues.
Can I close my ears?
The sticky strands
draw me into the web.
Can I free my limbs to move?

The more I listen
and believe.
The less I want
to move and run.
I gaze into the darkness
and the darkness gazes back.

Floating in my medicated bed
I drift into an ecstasy of sleep.
A slow seepage of thought,
before a sudden plunge
into a kaleidoscope of shadows.
A whirling, interrupted dance
of fractured visions.
Shifting and turning.
My horizon spins
on an axis I do not control.

Letters you wrote me
still hold their beauty.
Tears that I cried
run afresh down my face.
Love that I felt
floods anew in my heart.
Before the pain crashes in
when I remember you’re gone.