The pattern of a distant drumGathers all from the dark, The many coursing with fireFull and restless to march It is low and modest Building speed overnight Among the honest light Of heroes far and wide The drum pattern swells Into encircling thunder, With the tearful screams Of torn and tarnished mothers The guilt lies with one The chief, the merchant, the liar Trembling at the door Soon to burst asunder

She strides tall On the uphill march, Among the winding columnOf friends and fighters And their parade of complaints Their banter is a song There is order, there is rhythm The blue shades of its verseForm the tongue they exhale Winding up through the mist On a thankless journey, She fills her boots with stones In the alpine shadows Until the ivory crest Flames a luminous red, And all gripes melt away Among the tracers in the wind

Waiting for colors to brighten To light the way through the mist Frost-bitten to the marrow Down a serpentine roadAlong the river of ice Weaving over this year, The roadside is a scrapyard Lined with old friends I take on the dead weight Of their year-long screamWith the agony I haul Low and sputtering alongToward the phantom lightsOf a distant memory,Toward the silver and gold Glowing centuries ago

For once I didn’t kiss the ring Or add a tribute to the pile I gave fire and cordite When I spoke my true name On this day, at long lastI wore my loudest colors Standing tall on my turf Planted firm in its soilThe faint pulses of regret Fighting under my skin Will slowly calm with each stepFurther away from the throneWhile the cold sheen of fate Looms above, razor sharpWaiting for the fatal plunge Into a faithless whisper

Cloaked in a layer of frost They can hardly talk Only glare through each other, When their ragged roads cross Far apart on safe ground Memories are a shroud Fallen over them HonestFreeing screams to resound The twin thieves Twin liars Guard their evils in armor,Both fearful and vainUntil their day on the pyre Few words are spared In the midnight blue From either passing vessel,The silence shared Rings true

Tangled in the spiraling reeds Of a trusted name A strange seed takes root And outgrows its cage Within the shade of affection, Dressed in shades of spring He charges up defiant And glistening bright “Keep low” “Keep hidden” Rustles through his home When he dreams too loud Too fragrant, too sweet Will “keep low” Ring hollow As he cranes for the sun? Or will these warnings ring true As he withers to the soil?

I’m waking up In a cold shade of blue, Camouflaged in plain sight For the good of passersby Onto gilded horizons Someday’s been on a loop Since the midnight toll, When a weary old song Was set free from my arms I’m waking up sewn shut Bleary eyed, undecided Still miles behind Out of step, out of breath Is it for my own good To bear the silence alone? To tussle back into life And let the aftershock die?