since we started walking
this road the irises
finished blooming the still
abandoned eyeballs of
the light blue ones the plush
folded bats of the purple row since

we started this road the
grass now gasps away seed
the buttercups have dropped
their leaves like nail clippings
the camelia's bathrobe
among the cedars withered from the

branches since we started
the road the tough pony-
tails of the wisteria
fell in disrepute the
banksia waterfall
finished her fatal plunge since we have

started walking this road
the swallows came back we
can smell the jasmine from
its jugular the snow
melted from the mountains
since we started a man tumbled back-

wards into all this air
what we breathe is the air
of whole this world the sky
overwhelmed in writings
of grief at dusk we do
become dark of tongue as we translate

disintegration our
ankles reek mortal but
god how strong our thighs have
become since we walked this
road how fierce how savage
our filigree as the heart bangs in terror