They should have known
I was trouble
when at three I threw a tantrum
because the sun set
should have known I’d never be
an easy fit
or an easy fix
always at odds with the real
undermining hopes
and expectations
so obstinate in my refusal
of the usual
they feared I might someday
deny the law of gravity
and lose touch with more
than sanity
unlock my grip
on the earth itself
and come untethered
rising
like a loose balloon
far out of reach
                        

It was so soft
I almost didn’t hear
the sound of your heart
breaking
bad enough we’re here
in the last room
you will know
bad enough this is
our last chance
to sit with you
to touch
warm flesh to warm flesh
and you already so far away
all we see is the flicker
of your last dreams
moving across your face
you have no words for us
but we keep talking
to you
to each other
telling our stories
worn smooth as beads
in the rosary of lives
lived together
a comfort
shared like a last meal
before the long journey
you’ll take alone
far past the reach
of even the most
beloved voice
                        

Night comes down like fog.
The air greys and thickens
until trees hang like ghosts
suspended 
between earth and sky,
tenuous as dreams
like night blooming flowers
waiting to unfold
their perfumes,
the intoxicating smoke
of old magics 
rising wild and strange
dangerous 
as a ceremony of witches
dancing under the moon
with odd partners

Disturbingly familiar
until the curtain lifts
and you wake
with nothing
but a fading trace
of remembered music
fragile as a fairy ring
left in the grass