Fiction

Black ribbons 

lead me to you,

encircling my hands;

weaving memories;

snagging on life events

as stumbling blocks 

in life’s dense forestry.

I search for your voice

but discern only silence

mute nuances of you 

are swishes of leaves 

comforting balm on cold days

medicinal tinctures

in the hands of the sick. 

Your tenacity 

lines edges of me,

embroidering swaying skirts

whilst I dance

bohemian hinterlands 

bearing feral fringes

with a wild, streak-like glee.

I’m an animal mourner,

teethed and clawed. 

Seeking further plains,

tassels dangle from branches;

reaching up, I eye you

in twisted, obsidian knots

aiming to work free

from natural nooses,

locating easy breathing holes. 

Yet Fate has come. 

I note her dressed 

in sombre, funereal black

spinning a silvery coin 

in stretched timelessness;

its sides glimmer in moonlight. 

She has been patiently powerful:

a goddess donning a charcoal suit

comes to claim you today. 

Twittering of birds

hunting for blackberries,

laces nostalgia

whilst I remember you 

amidst childhood detritus;

building photo blocks

enshrined by your touch;

each enlightened by your presence. 

An aura glows from inside

the gilded frame,

a golden placenta 

linked back to you. 

Flee, sweetest angel

find your soulmate 

in darkly rich tapestry;

he awaits you 

stitched into lining 

like a cocooned cloud,

nestled into heaven. 

I know you are there,

re-found in his celestial hold. 

He has you now. 

Perpetually. 

Two favoured playmates

perform silly jigs;

retell old jokes,

waltzing on starlit plains

as you did as younger lovers. 

No longer performing,

I hold tight to clapping grief,

letting it dissipate to black ribbons:

my woe resounds in coal rivulets

lost within new, brightening days.