These Sunsets

Wave goodbye and wish me well

For roads yet conquered lie ahead

Pockmarked, marred by concrete swells

Touched by souls alive and dead

Their footsteps washed my sands so fine,

But not mine.

•

Streets split to form two separate paths

One light, one dark in fading light

Both grasped by time and its aftermath

And weeds that tangle, creak and fight

As roots and glowing ghosts collide,

On the other side.

•

A barrier of molten gold

Put up by no one said or known

That waxes, wanes with tales untold

Its peak worn down by winds once blown

While voices hiss of pain and loss,

And walls to cross.

•

I take a step toward lands unseen

The future fire in my hair

Gasping in their darkened sheen

My throat closed tight, devoid of air

When an alley appears with no signs to stake it,

So I take it.

•

The moon shines angel white above

Pure as need and innocence

With eyes that witness earthly love

Rays gently stroking a picket fence

Awaiting me in fields of clover,

To be leapt over.

•

I lift my leg and skirt the gate

My fingers grazing chipped blue paint

Not hindered by the hand of fate

Though cautiously, or else I faint

I lie down in the dewy grass,

And sassafras.

•

Tomorrow dawns a crystal day

My options spread like blades of green

Each promising as empty trays

In wait behind a silver screen

But laughter hits me, the greatest prize

And these sunsets pale

Beside this sunrise.

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