We're born mewling
Clawing
Finding
A world awaits us.

We finally stand
Bawling with a toy in hand
Striving for more people
Connected by a strand

We approach a land of darkness
Tearing because nobody understands
And yet silently screaming for a hand
Breaking strings and braiding bands

We stumble into the murky oceans
Crying little rivers to join one's surroundings
The ocean swallows our screams
And decides who sees our weakness

We are washed ashore and begin to dry up
The tears slowly evaporate out of oneself
Laying limp, hoping to be found
Struggling to stand up and find warmth

We find a path that leads to warmth
The tears guiding us along the way
We have seen the warmth that we yearn
And have chosen the what we breathe for

We shrink back away from the world
A wistful smile catching the rolling memories
And we stare out into the distance
Wishing for a world that awaits us.

I'm an electron
In a nuclear family;
I'll take TNT.

The cloth I gave it as cover for chill
is lying still.

Christmas eve was its last night.

Not that I knew
when picked it up
and gave it back
to the cold night.

I'm still holding it
heavy and invisible
on my heart
as my eyes repeat the scene
of crows pecking out its eyes
the head rolling on the earth
eyes closed.

I close my eyes
scared life could be so thin a thread
barely holding
and incredibly uncertain.

Those marble plaques in the cemetery
hold no dead beneath them
yet in the rising mists of winter evenings
when night like loose dark pebbles
fall from the sky
can be heard hooves of trotting horses
from the rows of cold white stones
and on nights favored by moon
is visible cavalry in scarlet serge
with pith helmets and carbine rifles
piercing the terror paused wind
with cries of vengeance
mirthful in washing blood with blood
on the fields of Cawnpore
dissolving into marble white stones
steeped in the peace of moonlight.