Peonies in permafrost

In Memoriam Michael Martin.

Tonight, the winter is lasting for hours

these bottles mimic the demise of innocence

Like water through cracks in stone

time beckons to finish them

 

 

Somewhere between the dusk and the summer

the air is too chill to breathe

Ice grips earth with murderous zeal

Yet it oh so easily leaves.

 

 

The fire alights in the windows

though it brooks no blaze

leaving nothing but lingering warmth

and, in dreaming, the gentlest breeze

 

 

the time between those frostbitten nights

lost to the oranges and greens

The hourglass cracked so long ago

that left me this monument, these cemetery trees.

Author's Note

Very little attention is payed to format in favor of flow and feeling. I feel the imagery is more important than any structure.