small free-verse item that leapt to mind while considering recent changes, returning prodigals, and the nature of ‘knowing the future’.
desperate words and hopes
til death do us part
forever and ever amen
don’t you? don’t you?!?
why?
i do.
i promise.
i believe.
tormented hopes
feverish dreams
‘if only’s’ wrapped in tears
believing in one another as if
we were more than human
as if, somehow
our belief was sacred
inviolate
not mandalas of ash, of dirt
not scattered like bark after the rut
or lines upon a mirror
long since cracked by
the weight of fear