Deserted

I am a derelict lighthouse,

my walls of stone and cliffside clay

the wind tears at the curtains

of long-broken windows

as a love torments a naïve young man

my silent blood wets the dirty floor

a muse in a sea of distant eyes

the stairs twisting into nowhere

the footlight of the unrivalled moon

agape over the cracked doorstep

I was once a tall tree

but I fear I am now a traitor

to a love I had painted all winter

the contour of fallen leaves embroidered

on the tapestry of my own rescue

by the slatestone beach my dreams slip away

it's where you left me

but you never came back

the roots between us are taut

the old turnkey is rusted

I won't wrest my memories from you

there is a forest where we could still run

where I could watch the saplings

bend like matchsticks into the pyre of remorse

in the low light of an unwanted morning

still I gasp to escape myself

I'm breaking in the door

the red flares waiting to be lit