elegies

to fall like petals from

a flower,

this was our

destiny

earthen cloud,

pillar of fire - this is

how we died

the sun glared, bloomed it's brow

we shone as

memories

afire in the shadow

seeping shape of a tree

sweep of man

there, asleep

cloud to stone, bread to bone

time unfurled

down, summer

all but gone

we drank the moon as rain

came, black silk,

silent streams

____________________

she looked as if a ghost

along the Ota steps

Okaasan

bathing in stolen time

the edge-hills a blank stare

a moonlight now failing

her mind a shadow, silk

digging in

before the atoms split

before the suns heat hit

she was gone

________________

acrid coats of children

bundled books

ablaze in

choc'late and chewing gum.

desire nothing until

war is won

- ca

(Background photo by Beau Swierstra from Unsplash.)