04-29-2016, 01:33 PM
Nightmare
A hidden choir burst into song.
I thought I knew the hymn
and sang along.
Silence fell around my voice,
my singing faltered.
The church darkened,
candles sprang to life along the nave.
On the altar: a white fox skull
with empty sockets,
a page from Baudelaire
crushed in a cup of gravel,
an ivory comb missing teeth.
Little black chunks of charcoal.
Chips on the rim
of a porcelain plate.
Waiting at the rail, you
in a dragon’s black carapace.
My fingers traced your face
as it failed.
A hidden choir burst into song.
I thought I knew the hymn
and sang along.
Silence fell around my voice,
my singing faltered.
The church darkened,
candles sprang to life along the nave.
On the altar: a white fox skull
with empty sockets,
a page from Baudelaire
crushed in a cup of gravel,
an ivory comb missing teeth.
Little black chunks of charcoal.
Chips on the rim
of a porcelain plate.
Waiting at the rail, you
in a dragon’s black carapace.
My fingers traced your face
as it failed.