Under the Ruby Speckled Tree

under the ruby
speckled tree
hours passed
as our past
spilled out before us

random shapes
saw growth
unravel

as strange
as what we have become

soaked in sun-drawn salted dew

so few
I had come to know

softened smiles
would crumble walls
as tall as mountains

exiled
in forgotten flesh
that forged anew

toward the crimson dawn
in sacred solitude

we held forever

ever knowing
nothing more
than love’s gentle cradling

kissed by a fallen gem
now stained
the hues of human
sacrifice

every loss we suffered
shone through
this crooked canvas
as covert cries

wisdom watching
as we wept
vivid breaths
that stilled the air

in wintry wafts
of stolen strength

this lengthy load
now turns languid