The Flowers

a fistful of orchids

mouth for heaven's scarlet words

the pandemic rages in my heart

alight like ribbons of cloth

and we're sitting by the poised teeth

of grandfather's old piano

remembering the very first fires

how the star rose from the water

up over the burning treetops

as we mimicked the arc of the flames

mother calling out into the night

(let nobody know what happened to you)

blood flows like a distant war song

the moonlight embroiders the trees

by the water our eyes are already drowning

a voice cracking sparks out into the night

love, ashes, lightning, chains, broken wings

for all those lifeless dreams

fixed around the moon's bitter smile

the wildfire a fading memory

of driftwood along the beach

buckling our knees

bowing us to the blizzard of ashes falling

to the horizon we'll never reach