I look at myself
A blur
In the foggy mirror
Every morning
Even after washing away
Another layer
Of accumulated detritus
Like the sculptor
Finding the figure
Inside the stone
Like a cathedral
Not yet complete
A hundred years
After the passing
Of its architects
I remain a work in progress
Under construction
In this life
In the last
In the next
All that have been
And all yet to come
towers and citadels
ramparts and parapets
fortress on the hillside
set afire in the morning sun
battles fought
war rages on
death visits here
still more to come
one strong heart
with will of stone
resolve of iron
but moments late
her final breath
his broken cry
their eyes now glazed
with death and grief
reign of tears
a rain of years
for one still form
her light now passing
towers and citadels
ramparts and parapets
fortress on the hillside
with darkness do the losses come
time withers
all good hope
but for love’s
illuminance
five hundred years
lives pass along
’til one strong heart
revived by dreams
a love once lost
was born anew
he holds the hand
of one once dead
knows the heart
which then fell still
now beats again
in true love’s breast
time’s never still
nor linear
where once was love
love’s never lost
towers and citadels
ramparts and parapets
fortress on the hillside
rememb’ring love can’t be undone
Like the ghost gums
In the Red Centre
I would come to know
Centuries later
I held you
While you grew cold
Your eyes
Already clouding
My body emptied
Of presence
Hollowed
By your absence
We learn to speak
In ways elegant
And ignorant
We grow old
Or we don’t
But all of us
We die
Pix to Words 