Through bleary eyes we watch the answers tick towards it's coming - As seconds, minutes and hours Measured out by three fates With a twisted string. We had our moments - so they say - When we shone brightly. It manifests, numerous As a spiders eggs - will Hatch in thousands And swarm the threaded string With blackened bodies. Like pin pricks - one is harmless - But concentrated, conquer. Belatedly we seek to staunch the wounds With frantic hands - but failing - Erupting through our fingers and falling from the sky. Our many deaths upon us here - In a heady rush, flowing. We saw, we knew, we waited For other gestures To render ours extraneous - and engorged We sank in quicksand to our necks. Suffocating and embracing - In embers, fingers raw. Regret is palpable and heavy On our tongues - as blinkers - As a veil is lifted And, divested of cocoon, It stretches and devours It's mothers and fathers. You see - our apocalypse is manifold.

How well could I have known That stranger in the north, Before falling sleep Did set him free? Memento mori, memento mori, Atoms in the wind. We will coat the trees in stardust From our graves. A setting sun is welcome and we sing; Memento mori, memento mori, Memento mori, memento mori. His time reversing quick Now stranger by the night, Before again a soldier Marching out. Memento mori, memento mori, Dust in the water. We will become the fishes In the seas. A sinking darkness welcomes us, we sing; Memento mori, memento mori, Memento mori, memento mori. Her mind it melts like ice And we grow smaller by it. How long before we’re All unborn? Memento mori, memento mori, Water in the earth. We will fall between the cracks Inside their minds. The drifting sands await us and we sing; Memento mori, memento mori, Memento mori, memento mori. Our wicked paper witch Was mortal too it seems, But did we ever see If we could love her? Memento mori, memento mori, Wind in the mountain. We will match the coldest snow With our remorse. The falling leaves precede us and we sing; Memento mori, memento mori, Memento mori...

Oh how fragile is our peace? Shattered in an instant By an uncertainty. Frantic fingers scrabbling on the keys, With heart in throat and waiting. Suspended in that moment  Are infinite possible deaths - Unmeasured and uncounted, In my eyes and in yours. I did not know! Old beasts could rise - Were not felled in battle But lightly chained and lurking, And so - though you answer me - Though the beast is caged and still, In my mind uneasy flickers Bear new fears And those fears are for you my darling.

Bottled up and metered out through years of wading I thought my venom vanquished, Yet a few words are thrown - (Broken damn, shattered glass) And I am drowning from the inside out under my doubts and my confusion.

It seems we’ve lost another - Beyond repair and crinkled Like scrunched up paper But more fragile. A pity, really - Such a pretty head Fell victim to negligence And a lack of sunlight. I fear this really is the last time - Trust can only go so far Before it breaks. It’s time to face our last resort - Here is a plastic one.

How will you collapse? How do you fall? Do you break down in the heat of fire, re-forge in the embers – a broken blade - smooth and sharp but brittle, falling apart with a snap in the throws of your next war, in a fray, in a clash of metal? The iron in your blood is rusting and seeps up through your skin until all you are is reddish brown and crumbling. Do you wear down like well-worn fabric, falling away, softly – a few threads - quiet and gentle collapse, drifting apart on a breeze, pulled away by small abrasions on your skin, fading out? The strands of your hair are brittle and float apart and away until you cannot hide those eyes anymore. Or do you bend under the pressure 'Pull yourself together' – re-form - as diamond and ashes? Brush away the dust, you are impenetrable, even your flaws encased in ice, unchangable. Your skin is rough to the touch and will not let them in again even as it will not let you out. How do you stand? How will you stand again?

It seems to me that your harsh words Are an exoskeleton - Slowly solidifying and Sealing all the cracks Until not a soul can see in, But once formed - Brittle to the slightest tap. When it shatters Will you ever be whole again?

It is an alien world I see Pressed between two strangers clasped hands and in their eyes. I am asked to yearn for it in turn for my own purpose, But to expect – to assume - To long for the unknown, Seems foolish. Incomprehensible. I thought I knew it once, but now I remember it as a poor reflection - An after-image behind my eyelids, Only a shadow fading While the creature casting it remains – as always - Illusive. Is it Oscar and Bosie? Forbidden but beautiful on paper. Is it my mother and father, Happier apart? Is it a fiction – longing and hope distilled In search of greater meaning? It is an alien world. Pressed between the pages of every story, A tantalising glimpse of passion. I turn my face from it For my own purpose, To live – to learn - To follow my own dreams, As I am - I do not understand.

Thirteen hours. Thirteen hours and i am standing beyond dreams and imagining. I take a step. My prints barely pressed into the dust will last an eternity And an eternity again. In transit - A shallow sun casts long shadows below us And for a moment i am afraid. We are not welcome here. We intrude. I take another step and fly. Or rather leap. I feel graceful but i look nothing but unwieldy As i slide towards a nearer horizon. A tranquil grey horizon. In landing - There is no jolt as expected but there is mild relief. We are relieved and enthralled and expectant. The grey horizon looms, And everything here is grey - Soft grey and lonely grey and lost grey. And there is silence in the absence of wind, or rain or summer. I miss the wind. In disembarking - I take a step. My prints barely pressed into the dust will last an eternity In this still and silent air. I begin to be afraid again. The tranquility becomes oppressive and empty, Pressing down from a border-less sky. I feel i can't breath and the looming horizon falls down And i fall up into...