hemming away

the oblong sky behind me

the purple sea before me

the undulating fields of elysium with waving grain

laying down silently beside someone long now gone

whispering those words in languages already forgotten

telling them about the glorious sunset of an empire expired

and how we loved one another through almost endless nights

telling them about the way the world looks now in a new light

with the muted dawn dappled upon a morning from antiquity

i stand up nearly young again an impossible reversal i know

look at those black black crows in that oblong sky

the shapes on the hillside like men from a distance

for a moment i freeze a frame in my mind

with a sensation of nausea i am able to zoom up close

i see the salt in the air eating the metal

i see the columbine wind twist among the gravestones

i feel my old wounds which split up time

the ache of the clamour of the blood of the charge

my boys rushing rushing into arcing dark darts

i thought i’d never see you amongst these tombs

i thought the moss and flowers had reclaimed you

i thought you had wandered away scattered as in life

i thought maybe it is me who has evaporated

nothing seems that real as when we were children i say

it could easily be a memory i am living in my own past

a cracked fountain against the oblong sky

its too warm to sleep but its too late to dream

in the hollow at the foot of my bed a cat spirit sleeps

in the arches of dianas temple a guarding angel watches on

in black marble mausoleum you will have your say

in white mist of morning you will go your way

oblong sky straight ahead

expect delay