Death's Thirst

Death's Thirst

The salty land! The salty land!

Juts out toward the covetous reefs

Like a hand, brought down in agony and grief,

Just as the arm, a cliff,

Casts out its dark shadow over all that’s light.

And the waves break nearby in silence.

As the sound trespasses into the dark

Into the forever muted night.

All the footprints

Cloaking and then swallowed by the dark waters

Retreating into their black avenues

And the Night folds his arms

The waves slow their course to a mere ripple.

And the sand trespasses into the dark

Into the forever muted night.

Then spheres of wretched mists

Floating . . . aglow lead a ship

Into the reefs, which part way

And rise into dual columns, pillars

Cutting into the sky.

The Night waves a hand

And the darkness coils before the ship

Shifting and ebbing into a dark mass of fog

And then unrolling a long the beach, like a carpet.

As the ship’s lone occupant steps down.

A draft arose,

And chills the Night, he shivers,

But bows humbly as his master unclips

His cloak of darkness, and as it falls ,

Death bends over to drink.

© 2020 Matthew Leo