Fire and Flood

Fire comes, and with it, water;
We are consumed by one while another
Carries away everything.

What is the difference? What is gone is gone.

Here, it rained and a flood swept away the road home;
Sand and rubble fanned like scree down a hillside.

You Told Us

You told us…

…the world is a terrible place;
we showed you proof.

You told us…

…your neighbours were foreign to you;
we condemned them with your words.

Revelation

We know what you are afraid of…

…the tide rising and the drowned world
on whose shore your life is wrecked;

…faces unrecognized in the streets at night,
callous looks, suspicion traded between you and them
the lasting knowledge of mutual ignorance;

Secrets

We know what you are afraid of…

… your secrets are already revealed:
the walls an older you wrote them on,
where you hide them now.

Last Light Fading

Night-time of the soul,
they say, comes when a last light
fades in the imagination.

Dreams are no longer a comfort;
these visions behind your eyes
where lurid phantoms dress themselves;
midnight slides toward morning.