Sunshine

including "Empire"

Branches bow towards the toil.

Mid-autumn rains sting

with a foreboding cold. 

Unraveling the serpent in its coil,

uncovering bucolic threshold.

O suiters, court her with hearty anagram

composed of litany, love,

a fabled feeling.

Islands cry by tempest, cyclone,

or maelstrom birthed by darkness

and dead by dawn.

O childhood slake my eye,

mad the horns with psalm and hymn

of midnight allure.

Mountains cry by snowstorm, avalanche,

or an iceland laid with glimmers

soon pillaged by spring.

O sunshine herald the light

shone through mirror, window,

or the glare of beauty incarnate.

Oceans cry by tidal wave, earthquake,

or an earthbound frost from a vanishing star

fading within the frame of space. 

Vassals in harlequin attire;

argyle painted shield,

blood patterned sword.

Snow cascades in silver dunes

across the realm in a brooding hoard.