spirit

you look and you smell.
you cry out for your loved one.
onward valhalla.

stuck at the forked tongue.
resigned to resignation.
one choice to make change.

to recoil from life
is to remain infantile.
live to die all spent.

thin wheelbarrow men.
picking up loads for others.
who helps with your load?

when the body is thin and frail
and the bones cling to sinew.

when the breath is labored
and the heart a dry pump beating
like a hammer and anvil.

when the mists of time dwell
like fog across the windows
of the soul

and your purr rattles like a distant
chime across meadows of bowing grass.

when you are winding down
and the springs of your clock
can be wound no more.

your lion heart holds on, holds on.

when your breath is carried on high
warm from the beating of angel’s wings.

when that proud mouth takes its last sigh
and the heart taps rhythm no more.

your lion heart carries on, carries on.

your courage burnt hot on my soul.
your patient wisdom rooted in my heart.

and when i lie still in the dark
lonely night.

my hearth is warm, the hot memories
stinging my heart.

your lion heart beats on, beats on.

the time is marked and steady.
your lion heart purrs on, purrs on
like an ebbing coal, hot in my soul.

how black is the night?
soft and wet my pulpy soul.
what noise these bright lights?