Good Grief

The day they shot our boy farrow
I did not submit myself before them
a disaster of the loss consumed by tears
nor did I sense any cause to implore them
about what his death might cost.

I was told the weight of his life
surpassed by far the weight of his death
and the space he left in his place
would leave us all bereft
only of the success we lost in his theft.

We could not in good conscience
succumb to the threat implied of his end,
silence ourselves in the loudness of his death,
and in doing, ignore the fortune of finality
to give way to the future and end the past.

Thus, when at last,  our boy farrow died
I, as well as anyone else that day
did celebrate all the rewards that
were said to be coming our way
while the executioner looked
for a new soul to blame for our dismay.

The Bounty

Charred wood and ash stirred to bright gold embers
violence begat flames that fold in tongues
crack like whips in darkness to inspire lust
the night takes the fire into its lungs

Thoughts are loud – though they remain unspoken
silence is where the sane call their home
the madness restrained surely dies inside
or there resides like eyes free to roam

The sounds of life are encumbered with death
all felt the time plundered as an offense
the cliff ending while they keep running on
absence becoming something immense.

But finality waits for tomorrow
they will travel no more after this
Three weeks to create a friend from nothing
one rope to end it all in abyss.