From the collection “Beyond the Border Kingdom“, the 13th and final poem.
(1)
threads hang openly
defining a life – what happens
when they are pulled
or cut?
does the puppet fall?
who will mend the broken legs?
one by one the headlights pass
through silence and growing fog
hidden unknown faces travel into
hidden unknown places.
the shadows that follow,
what fills the void and vacuum
the consumed space where light has left,
has forgotten the open fields?
give me truth
give me strength
to expose and kill
the false deity within.
(2)
one last look back
before the stampede begins
my feet in rubber boots
sink into virgin snow.
the tree line leads
thoughts grow beyond the river
past meadows and tundra
to the peak forever in a storm.
the trail ahead is obscured
whoever passed first
their footsteps have been lost
to the landscape…
winter sky
frozen movements
miles of silence
the setting sun and the cold orange and blue.
(3)
unknown moments never experienced
– things I will never know
the harvest moon covers
open fields of wheat and barley,
the open sea, wild horses –
simple beauty.
people around me circle closer
the space I have built
is shrinking, collapsing
I must leave, it is my time to leave.
black outline suspended in flight
one last moment here before my time passes.
the sea slows. light bends across
our eyes. rocks glisten.
(4)
events beyond control
the long black paved road
simmers in the distance
apparitions rise and fall.
the barriers erected soften
the layers peel away
exposing the true self within.
who are you when all else is gone?
what is left when each layer falls?
broken wings
above the blackening sea
merged into the shoreline
a pale hand moves methodically
over the flame releasing
jasmine into the room.
rain blankets the landscape.
over time the room and rain become one
as the being within falls into a temporal sleep.
early morning…
and the suns fingers extend to me.
