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

Revered Red Rose

revered red rose
plucked perfection
silken sheen of sworn silphium
passion implied through echoed glances
sparking bursts amid darkness reborn

gaze into ephemeral beauty
bathe now in the sweet aroma
ardently drink of its naked nectar
meandering through the copious crevices

the coming onset of the scarab horde persists
as breaths of dormant decay allay the boatman
reaping what was smote, in amorous embalming

witness the wanton wilting of lilting languish
spill unto the fetid fragrance freed
silence seeds the silt that striates solemnly
in semblances of stranded sky dust blanched
await the reunion of remnants restructured

Shedding My Soul for Bedding

In Chambers of abundant void
Decadent decay ensues
Peering past spectacled sphere
Allaying my undoing
Fear cast upon mangled mass
Dangling over moral mendacity
In pendulant descent
Shedding my soul for bedding
To usher in the dawn
Amorous armor, brittle and tarnished
Halted momentum
Of bare wire frame
Cognizance compromised
With time’s absconding
The hour’s toll looming
I pray, not awaken

Like a Deftly Sewn Death Shroud Secured

Bereft; lay my heart upon ocean’s floor
Forever once wandered from her lips
Now eclipsed in shadowed solitude
Indiscernible, such impetus gives way
Allaying the allure of erstwhile spirit
Spent; things rent yet remain
As plain as ivory iridescence upon desolate eve
In gloaming, elucidation ensues
Expanding our minds in the umbral embrace
Essences escape in eager entreaties
Erupting like flames from chasmal cliffs
Arriving at the altar of fated farewell
Felled like forests denied deponent
Enduring etchings bespeckle this quarry
Quietus gathering as dust fills void
Raging resilience now recoiled
Bravado that bellowed and burned
Spurned reason, inquisition ever looming
Like a deftly sewn death shroud secured

Monochromatic Cell

Visions flourished with age
Cradled palette mirroring life
Unbound by consciousness

Subjective grandeur
In subconscious expanse

Ere I knew naught but this monochromatic cell

Though once I dwelled
In untold triumph
Freedom seldom deemed

Leaves absent; revealing lament
In reverie descending

Totality’s truth abiding
Fragile fruit bears mind
Vying for validation

Amid Eternity hastened
To taste infinity alone

Left to Desert

wafting ripples edging inward
when the sky had reached conclusion
treading long in earnest failing
foot sworn fate at rocky stream bed
spark embedded moment’s passing

left to right; in captive caption
trails grow cold and starburst shattered
at what great lengths do we now surface
only to return our silence

i stood watch for you; draped in new moon clashing
as all the wind found its resolve

Sun & Moon

once i held a heart, compelling
fervent wells of fleeting flight
desert stars would swallow words
as hours sifted through the glass

wandered through the glacial meadows
dwarfed by redwoods reaching sun
that they might alight with flames
to usher in the dawn’s refrain

stood on salted shores that stored
the startings of a siren’s song
longing for the shadow’s shifting
solitude of duties wrought

in those days of passioned plight
sights set on the looming bend
tender tears had soaked my shoulder
fallen from her anguished mien

unabashed pleas of pining
crashing into crumbling rock
placid waters, motion lacking
listless as the last long kiss

still, i would walk in those steps
till time should breach the black horizon
in a realm where forms are free
from frivolously guarded guise

how we stand and face this void
belies the eyes that felled my truth
quelled by thoughts of quietus
we cycle as the sun and moon

A Passenger Denied Expression

translucent layers wrap around clouded lens compounding
shed inside as nascent wounds wound wrought excruciation

i look upon fresh death’s perspective
a passenger denied expression

tertiary verses, spoken realm of unforgiving
prism bound imprisoned sounds echoing muted cries

eyes of bronzed reflection casting stones on rippled waters
have carried me away on waning waves to wilt

set upon sheltered shores to sway undue solatium
such notions, weltering
imbued impression etched in bone

sutures sown of sacrifice’s lesser known striations
statuaries strewn about in static desolation

as the seaward siren strums strings of numbing from atop her spire

A Simple Moment Passes By

A simple moment passes by
I may never know these feelings again
Were that I could embrace this heart
And capture its pulse in some less apparent form
As I move through this existential void
I am privy to but a single experience
In spite of the infinite inferences that lay hands upon the unknown
My own scented landscape of which I taste and listen upon
These chemical reactions composing the truth of all I know
I try with all that I am given to grasp at the world external
Reaching out to all and none
Ardently scrutinizing with every sense I command
Alas, these truths remain a hazardous guess
Patiently I piece together remnants from my own components
Stitched with the meandering trail dust I have lain afoot
Bolstered by expressions I can only wish to assume
What contorted monstrosities I must exude
I know only my own reality yet it remains obscured
What abomination must the world behold
I shudder to imagine such horrors
Hastily I stumble in a motion to regain composure
For all that I imagine will never stay in any one form
There will not be another who should step into my solemn soul
Solitude remains the one consistency I cannot undo
Yet it forever binds my truth to every living thing
And in this my connection is understood
That which separates our solitary sentience
Weaves our existence together, loomed only with love

Whimsical Flow

My name is Max-a-mil
I swim amid the swill
From rhymes I left behind
In times not powered by the pills

I live in such lament
So endless in descent
And when it comes to languishing
I set the precedent

My days are like a blur
My cats will all concur
That it is not from pleasure
But from pain for which I purr

Awaiting my demise
Through these tear-sodden eyes
With lies I must believe
To breathe and compartmentalize

Y’all can feel my pain
For y’all must feel the same
On one thing we can all agree
Nothing will ever change