Days Passing
(a ghazal to be read out loud)
Covering her face in drenched curtains stitched with sun,
Pain far from undone looked off to where the clouds break
He took the gun from the place it was hid,
Wasn’t supposed to know, but he did, where the clouds break
The book was slipped back in its usual space,
Thoughts out of place with time, always late where the clouds break
When she plucked up the first bloom she dared,
Glancing around, who might spy what she shared where the clouds break
Softer than any compared, porcelain white powder-puffed on the mirror Where she was softest, but never enough where the clouds break
Along the bluff he walked in knots, finding only his shoes
Hardly scuffed when he heard the news, darker where the clouds break
Along water’s edge she knew, her toes dipped in
To where mind’s fathom refused, flying off where the clouds break
Where was the sin?, it was hidden right beneath this thick root,
Taken to tempt the impossible, forgiveness buried where the clouds break
Wading in dusky water that swirled where dreams could not,
Dress slick with fear of sun’s demands blot, legs firm where the clouds break
The gun found the sin in the ground, the dress patched, the lies intact,
Curtains close over another deceit, just a scratch where the clouds break
Strings of red wrapped ‘round each of their wrists, they followed each other Through pain, through bliss; seeking broken lines…where the clouds break
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