Fauna - I

Before the stars fled our sky
When we spoke the old tongue
When our mouths were filled with dirt
Our tongues danced as trees

As owl flies to cedar bough...

Shadow unto shadow falls
The wrung earth stills
Smoke rises from an empty face
Inkstain from the heart spreads

Hot tears spill
From the sky's open seam
An ash breeze pours
From our pure mouths
Partake of this dying fruit

Footprints fill with poison water
Footprints toward the forest fade

As animals we gather
Around the womb-hole in the ground
Shed this flimsy skin
Ignite our eyes again

Shadow opens
Nature's hands enfold
Listen: wind inside
Wind, harbinger

Under a raged cloth of sky
And the moon's blazing eye
Burrow deep in blackest earth
And break further

Hands blackened with my own blood
Piece me back together
Unburden the gutted beast
Fill the abyssal chest with leaves
I, great wound the wind whips,
Disappear.

[Those who love will forget they loved]

The ugly past curls in the fire
Shadows cast their figures
Into the swallowing mist.