Reflections of You

Sail on, Alison

All Autumn we had decanted bones from our reliquary of flesh
Cresting crepuscular light over everything, but you.
Happiest in the shade, weren’t you, my Dear?
 
Barbarians would have buried their
Prey on these shores, to gorge later.
Centuries of carcass, ghosted flames
Towards The Twitter Man’s shoes.

Did I raise a mirror to a bustling street
Made you up from the elbows, angles,
Ankle socks and blue muslin skirts?

Semaphore in the spaces between rain and breath,
Mute messages on lonely train platforms,
Which serendipitous priest ordains the
Scrying secretions of strangers’ eyes meeting?
 
We were blessed with something like the devil
Flying kites on desolate beaches
No-strings fucking at arm’s length,
Vodka soaked evenings, alone,
Listening to leaves turn to rust.

Every phone call a harbour or departure
Syllables branched deeper into hills.
Lust wears jewels over her sores
Weeping are the solitary trees.

"We’re just not working"
Like a washing machine overloaded
Or mechanical vale of a heart, broken.