Ashes and Embers

the caption read, “survival
is triumph enough” brazenly and
manly it was scrawled in letters
triangulated and fierce. this was
a motto between you and me. a
creed, like steady living stars anchored
to the black. mainstay to nothing.
there is a game that we play. tender
soliloquies whispered in shadows.
whispered with no thought that those
words would be carried by wind, by deed, by
song. but they were. and traveled across us
and into those that we love. and penetrated.

these are desperate days my lover, my friend.
no sense in grabbing the picture books, this
place is going to burn. and among ashes and embers,
we will make our best of love on the sapless ground.