Butterfly Mechanics
The light is a thin green swirling in the air before the spirits of thunder send down their voices on low slender waves Far beyond is brightness The light about which these hills have kept quiet for all long time spanning distances of cultures lying sanely in wait My days have run like stars on top of a cold mountain I have traveled between the dreams and echoes between the trees There are lands beyond these shores I have glimpsed them through the mists like far off lights caught in a web of sparkles The dream replaces me now A silent memory on the surface of a deep pool charred by ripples moved by the breathing gills of fish where fat-bellied flies doze in forgotten fields like butterflies too afraid to move for disturbing the air Somewhere something glows a cold harsh blue beside the camera’s eye The purple-jet air breathes twilight into the sky and moves quickly to pick up the ashes of the falling bird that circled the heavens like a disused cigarette on a spiral to the end All things passing pass through this point of time Best to be ready Yet none of this comes out on film
This poem was originally published as Jack Beltane and appeared in the book "Nightshade & Daylight," which is available for $6 ($2 Kindle).