ending

faces turned to show a side

crawls out beneath the turning wheel

eye-wide mad, laughter framed

secrets thrown beneath the bed

time frozen hands curled in

statements written and spoken clear

hands meet and weave and hold

and turning cogs run out

to black monstrous machine

to crazed words

to bloody images, turning and clashing

pictures carved into skull

scenes broken and flashed

time was carved in thirty lines and sliced

folding and crumbling, tumbling

rain from a cloud, rocks from a cliff

to melt to burn to shine ablaze

neath the day’s stoked furnace

rhythms fall away

silence creeps on through nighttime roads

crawling through the streets

and shops and towers

and by the rivers

and in the offices

water recoiled

 

“it’s been great to see you”

“see you soon!”

dispersed, fallen into rubble

to clinch victory in a moment

to stitch the threads of time together only once

for flames to feed and lick and shine

upon the pebbled beach,

by the lonely lake

where stones sit calm and hard

where trees crash soft and broken

splintered and damp

a sun climbs to its tender knees

lashings of pink and flaming red

eyes burned and dazzled

spirits thrown into the skies

flakes of hair

beating heart

whispers soft and touching skin

written notes, typed-up letters

from hand to hand

sketches black and blue and white

candles glow and crackle soft

light floods through the empty room

lines switched on the bar-grilled screen

light yellow and old and stale, where

the smell decay

the breath decay

the hands decay the feet decay the heart decay

task and objective

hammering tic, spiralling tower

no step to climb, no word to ring

no echo on hushed stoney walls

choking words and choking dreams

choking stars and choking seams

stamp batted flat, dead, quiet

and feet battering on the city floor

morning trains, howls in the tunnel

a bursting seam

a tumbling dream

the motor hand turns fast and blurs

day to night

where talk does not run but collapses

into beads

specks on the spinning, mad canvas

shuffles, slow and tired

crawling in the margin

glints of hope, smothered and crushed on

the ocean depths

to where light never scars

to the crumbling earth

to the rocky shards and

the sprawling turf

faces known and soft, smiles

words, trips to crazed ideas

punched into diaries

scribbles neath the crooning lamp

scribbles in the faintest hour

tears, fears, shuddering

shaking squealing mouse, jumping by the turning blade

disk, tones, notes

holy rivers of sound to rush and turn

through body and spirit, fires lit in the cool dark cave

warmth falls in a holy shower

across the icey plain, and upon the frosted trees

all that was hard and rough

and cold and stuck

runs to warmth

and the glacial earth melts, into ocean life

bleeding soft and warm and tender.

a fiery pulse,

shoots up the ridge of the spine

waves thrown far and wide

the great deep bellows in great force and great tide

the scene has changed.

and time once peeled off the sticky wrapper

days written by on the cellphone screen

laughing and smiles, the simple joy

of being alive

iron strength

of friends, a gang

mornings dazed and

alcohol glaze on the tongue tip

flashing heads, flashing lights

disco rooms and endless

dancing. glorious dancing of

youth, in its twilight glory

was a flame of warmth to

us all who stayed, and

to us all who shuddered

in fierce cold, as  

the wondrin’ spark

was snatched and smothered, and

our light turned dark

by the unwinding road

by the silver mist.

pens and keys stroked and tapped

lines drawn in haste

plans spun to waste

i saw the crowd

become an empty room

and for us who loved

and dared to smile

clocks had split

our paths by miles