Owls shriek
and the sky fades,
youth gives way
to the tightened temples of age
and the dim mystery of willows stirred
by the clash of night and day.
All that’s happening
feels as if it’s coming back to me,
wringing with wind,
dressed in the costume of shadows.
alerting me to your voice
and the sound of errant tapdancing.
Sun clamps its vizor shut.
Surface thoughts recline,
Moonlight slips inside closed eyes.
amaranths bloom,
sleep enfolds them
deeper down,
beyond death,
into blood sparkling.
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, California Quarterly and Lost Pilots. Latest books, ”Between Two Fires”, “Covert” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Isotrope Literary Journal, Seventh Quarry, La Presa and Doubly Mad.