smoke (for iraq anniversary no. 4)

for you, the reader

first posted 20th of march

‘as flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;
they kill us for their sport.’
king lear, act iv, scene i

in these times
i hold you close,
thoughts firm, soft,
& ironic; resolute
-ly comforting and destructive:
a cigarette.

comforting & destructive,
these nuclear times;
where weapons lie
in the mouths of leaders,
in hidden hovels,
in bunkers, in wait.

protectively,
we exhale slowly,
let breaths fall heav’ly
from our mouths:
incredulousness
is the best defence.

the days hang, grey
beneath our eye-sockets
and in our skin
we find new shadows:
experience takes
liberties with the face.

liberty takes nothing
but time
and insight:
the cage is still
there, but we exist
outside it,

our hands metal-cold
between bars, our
bodies slumped
in shameful slumber;
these years of non-alignment
make us bent.

in these times
my thoughts curl
around you &
yours around me,
a knot of love
in twisted times where

the only bleeding hearts
lie cold in rubble,
prayers shake
the foundations
of buildings and
words are as smoke.

let them keep their
buildings,
weapons,
rubble;
their eyes filled
with mushroom clouds
of purest light.

we know we are
but knots of love
tied to an infinite darkness;
we know we have but
each other, and the scent
of rising smoke.