As Ever Like the Sun & Moon at War

8- ❂❂ -VIII

Our Preacher runs an hour, guided by

the argent light of Luna up above,

which seems t'illuminate the road ahead—

if only faintly—just enough to see.

And when no longer can his lungs sustain

this weight of heaving up and down his chest

and shins have grown to ache for their repose,

our Preacher pauses, pressing palms upon

his knees to catch his breath and spit the bile

that rises up to coat his straining throat.                10

He reaches for his flask, uncaps the lid,

and chugs until he needs t'release his breath

to draw again the cool and humid air;

each swallow washes down the bitterness

of ev'ry aching thought that's racing through

his mind; what acrimony he hath wrought

in ev'ry place his wretched soul hath touch'd,

suppress'd with wine in order to forget

but momentarily. Or twas, at least,

for though he's numb'd himself a little here,                20

as done before, th'effectiveness doth wane,

for at the edges of his mind he knows

the pain awaits his guard to drop again.

Our Preacher hooks his flask upon his belt

and straightens up, observing now this road

so spanning north from town and curving west

toward a destination knows he well.

He walks upon this path a while more—

examining the runnels form'd by tracks

made once by wagon's passage o'er the dirt                30

and prints impress'd by horses pulling loads—

until, with distance pass'd, our Preacher comes

upon a property just off the road

familiar to our man on spotting it.

He slows his pace and finds without a thought

he turns from th'road and walks the driveway up

whilst re-imagining the image of

this land as once it was before it all

went up in ruin. Fields plow'd in rows

and bearing tall the seeded life within,                40

sustaining here a fam'ly with their fruit

so labour'd for in order to achieve.

He veers away and off the driveway's path

upon the sight of something to the side;

a pair of poplars occupy a space

upon a tract of sod not till'd for growth,

wheretwixt there gently sways a hammock's length