Mistress Rain

Ivory knives pierce the skins of reddened grapes

Juices burst, Earth's fertile life-blood

That intoxicates caressing fingertips and

Slips down the sides of her marble waist

The wild grass and wheat braid themselves

Into her dark, lustrous tresses; bold and aloof

Her eyes are inescapable pools of honey

Cotton-white blossoms, plucked from

Verdant forests, bleed endlessly

Viscous and hearty drops of crimson dew

Brave saplings, clothed in ashes

Peek out from with the frosty womb

Like her snow-kissed cheeks above the

Early morning stirrings; the bluebird and

Finch make their nests amongst the dry

Bark and tender spring stars

Narcissus wave lazily, beckoning her

With golden arms and silver voices

And she begins to laugh as the fawns

Scamper across the lines of her nose

Leaving careful, acorn hoof-prints

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Oblivion of Dying

Twink’ling with the eyes of stars

It beckoned me, “Peer within!”

The golden light danced on walls

Of dark, wooden panels thin

Crimson poppy on his breast

Hunched and ragged, languishing

Tears soon came in gravity

He gripped his papers, trembling

Dexterously, he plucked petals

Of the bloody poppies free

Inhaling the earthly core

He begged for rest, “Come to me.”

His words were lost in liquid

Misery, his face lines spun

Volumes of tactile anguish

His drowning eyes met mine, stunned

The crystal glass his prison

Impenetrable rampart

Unraveled threads between us

Leaving him with shattered heart

Breezy fingers mussed his hair

And to the floor his papers fell

With a weighty final flutter

And his tears drew him towards hell

Aching alone in agony

Oblivion of dying

Stars, that watched the corpses dance

Of crumpled poppies flying

Crackling hardness encircled

The window’s edge and creeping

Fractals, icy, forming frost

I watched: lost him to weeping

Death’s grip found his marble throat

Window to ice surrendered

The bloody fingers, poppies

His riven eyelids conquered