It was spectacular, sleepwalk and briny, 
when I came out to wire shores for 
a light lick of morning’s air; 
felt something grow across from 
wavering smoke signs, pit fire 
leavings that criss-cross skies 
and leave a breathless swimming dark 
beneath. 

When I wane in grandeur, 
placed in bow-breaking time from 
our good days that left marks deep 
in skin damage, then I became 
more plastic, with rains drifting through. 

If I made the effigy stake, was 
well-thought and worthy, it wouldn’t 
have been so close to lifetime’s 
defeat; still, too cold for all 
that we were, just signals passing on 
scrap ice and plated mineral.