ashen mountains

talk not soft, be but beguiled
settle wildly those sediment sentiments
gathering on the ground, amassing like black-grey peaks

nurtured by crisp winds cutting
corners
dashing ashen clouds into memory

when we made for those mountains,
shuffling idly between the grayed out gouts of stayed faces
cardboard scenery made a backdrop to our famed escape
we wept and lit a vigil for lives erased

when your voice shattered my dull-eyed wondering
i was dreaming of being awake.
i was waiting to grow like a shock
i was watching train cars blur by

scrawling circles on shifting sands
wind-carved creases on our hands
of time we draw our epitaphs
and hide our faces when it laughs.