One day I was out walking
among the plains
Where the elves make their mischief
in water and rain
And there I saw a flower
amongst the old dust
And spitefully, I turned it dark;
wilted like old rust.
The petals were black ebony,
the centre was a pearl
And slowly, those petals began to fall
as the snow-crysted leaves unfurled.
One cloud above the bright blue sea
began to shawl the sun,
And it was grey as it could be
it signalled all was done.
The seas rose from the windy desert
and swept the sand away
And as I stood up from the ground
water dissolved the day
The sweeping salt-cloud roared through and past
the ground on which I stood
And grasping, groping, reaching,
it swept me as it should.
And tumbling like a child at play,
in the water’s foaming spray
And out-gasping from fire-lungs
that crackle in the depths of May –
The water tossed my body limp
like wilted salad’s lettuce-leaf
And snowing, blowing, halting stood,
gnawing jaw, resting teeth.
Sprawled out, a stain of dye on cloth
was I when everything was lost
And fell-broken upon the grainy sand
and day turned dark, and ground turned frost
Standing, unbattled by the waves,
was the flower, and it
Seemed to cry as it did sway:
the bitter horse’s broken bit.
One day I went out walking
among the plains
Where shadows lurk on
thought and name
And there I saw a flower
amongst the old dust
Still-standing in the dying wind
dark and deep-old lust.
YOU ARE READING
Butterfly Ripples
PuisiButterfly ripples through water and wind fluttering petals, whispering wings. Words swing 'round trees carried in a breeze of butterfly ripples so do as you please. But don't taunt their song of water and wind: to it they belong and so they will sin...
