a cough as dead leaves drop

detached with soft faint sigh

last breath of lonely martyrs

murmur of breeze in the sky

 

gravity's heavier as we age

ancient oaks sad blue eyes

saplings thrust like a lance

a loving that knows no lies

 

do remember me, I'm here,

did you forget I found you?

like a lost fawn, dappled in

shadowed glades and dew

 

scoured every forest floor

scorched bones of trunks

black-hood and tonsured,

unshod chaste wan monks

 

clouds choked, risen dust

our love's guttered candle

hearts of banrupt cinder

spades without a handle

 

below earth roots survive;

when will the sun return?

faith lingers like a dream

shall it survive, the fern?