Beneath

When verdant summer blooms
and our world shines rife with
     if
I lay silent in my grave
and remember

days abundant with sun and
not this choking dust lying
     thick
in the back of my
throat

When pillars of stone were
     fortresses
and circles of trees cathedrals,
and we were warriors and kings

Your smile melts into arcane woods,
     an echo--
clawing, I pull sediment into my lungs,
something less
when I am alone

For winter's cold leeches far
beneath
this earth
     where I lie
Freezes my eyes spinning with summer's wandering
     illusion
Pillars of stone are once again just nature's
     ruin, and this ancient blade
     tires
of my blood.