Your ghost haunts me
while the night cradles my hair,
I drift on a moonbeam afar
and this brief history in time

---

The Sun threatens appearance
clinging to this darkness
I find peace on earth
to be evermore near now,
but the world trembles
as I soak in the silence.

Cold stars blaze within the predawn sky
as I exit from my faded ride
and watch my clouded breath drift by
here at a far forlorn roadside.
I try to ignore aching knees.

Two score of years since I was here,
back then a clear cut set in pines.
Gone, the forest I'd held dear,
hardwoods, some draped with muscadines.
Their perfume tinted autumn's breeze.

When peace becomes a cruel lie,
and talks are a waste of time.
Don't walk away and close your eyes,
abandoning hope seems like a crime.

Misconception leads to accusations.
The blind fury is clouding the heart
I condemned the wrongful actions
but my faith is blamed from the start.

Am I to stay silent as I witness
how hatred breeds more hate?
I asked for unity in times of duress,
for justice in action, my mate..

Trundle up the hill in grief,
then thunder down,hot tears in rain

Wedge your nose into a rose,
as if to learn to sniff again

Find your feet, raise up and plod
on the self same, old beaten track

Peer in lost curiosity at shops, once known,
interiors now, are starkly black

Realize, you've done all this before
and wonder also, too

Why all the horror of the world
has been lost on some, but loosed on you

But know: this is just the ennui talking
that late afternoon palliative rose