Bereaved

In her dreams the silent sea flows eternal
imprisoned in a pall of overhanging clouds

breathless infant cries, take shape,

and the fear in a swirling mist, prowls.

as each day rises and sets
memories are erased of the chord

descends into a black hole

and falls onto her own sword.

She passes it every night,
rows of teeth erupting from the rotting ground,
one lying flat, inscribed,
nineteen ninety eight, two thousand.

before she washes off the daily grime,
her image flickers in the mirror,
hardens, and the corner eye shows
the shadow of the reaper.

in another before,
she knew how to smile
made breakfast with love
for husband and child.

the curtains shut in November
never opened to let the light through
a formal letter on the mantlepiece
"deceased in action with crew"

she despised the shrouded words

lost all connection,

the shudders behind her back

the beginning of her rejection.

she built up her concrete wall

allowing herself to further sink,

turned away from the flailing limbs

the cushion, a pointer to her sin.

a single figure, ruined in the eye of the storm

a tiny twitch as she leaps,

prayers unremembered

she sleeps.