the burning

Here’s my declaration
the unequivocal, the emphatic
blind to the path, overgrown, thorn-ridden
this way lies…?
Paradise or Hell
Heaven sent or Hades spent?

dude’s not right for you…

confess…

A fakir, hooligan, the forgotten-best forgotten

Gauntlet: thrown, gauntlet: run
me:
ten on one is one from none
this fight is nothing: I will not fall

Ten sleeps to heaven
an indian’s journey by painted pony
roughshod run
no kessel, no baker’s dozen

pleading ghosts for reality’s gift
good feelings, ’cause the rock gods tell us

Denied:
my strengthened body
my sharp mind
my fiery soul

grieving for what has not been
this: my declaration
of non-independence
of consorts, paired, held close
two fragments: matched edges
dropped
feared broken: again

if the gods set you adrift
would I make my careful careless wave to you
the swell, the rise the fall of wind
mudras for safe passage.

if man had forsaken you
released to wood, hill and dale
my breath the raging forest fire
all consuming

have forgotten speech
know only flame, heat
mute declaration screaming
broken fingers sign through the blaze:

No.
this flame does not burn for you
No.
this flame will not stop