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SINECURE OF MOONLIGHT

by Charles Carreon

Poor petals,

You have lost your blossom --

Unfortunate leaves,

You have lost your places on the Tree.

   Upright, upon our feet,

   We walk among the fleeing hordes

   Blown by the killing wind.  We find

   the flushed corpses of blossoms

   Rotting in wetness.

   Our eyes reflect the color of the sky,

   We are wrapped in the blanket of the wind,

   We stand and watch the exodus of clouds,

   Escaping over the horizon.

The abandoned shed,

tilting slightly on rotten beams

Affords sweet, if tenuous shelter,

The rickety walls showing splinters of light --

Nail and knotholes where the wind

Ventures probing fingers of transparent blue.

   Here I could live

   On a sinecure of moonlight,

   On a stipend of grass,

   Receiving remittances from sparrows,

   Sleeping in old hay,

   Reading the scraps of outdated dailies.

Watching the course of prolific summers,

Inhaling the splendor of moth-studded nights,

At last you might discover a road out,

Appearing like a mirage in the north wall --

Passing through, you might find yourself

At last among the migrating stars.

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