THE CALM BEFORE

in the lawless forest/the moonlit flowers
turned their head downwards/overlooking
the lonely man.
he laid there/skin uncovered
his pink lips/glowing in the star-light.
his chest rose up/and down.
river-bugs whizzed/past him;
the croaking toad/settling near his thin/shoulder blade.
the smooth breeze/from the water
caressed his inked hair/ethereal strands/of silk.
the opaque night/rupturing the surface
between the water/and the sky
collapsed heavily/onto the shadowed lands.
suddenly/the silence was brushed off
by a fire gun’s/serenade
bullets piercing/the natural veil/of the forest.
then the sky brimmed/over the stampede of silhouettes passing by/the lonely man
whose dancing chest/came to a sudden stop.
that night/the great sky was illuminated
by the star’s/golden dust
the crimson pools/draping the forest floor
and the last breaths/of the lonely man.