come what may
that which the blade brings
and
the whir of angel's wings
heavens sing above
vibrations of the earth
whispers of love
and
the fleeting beat beneath
arresting the last breath
a final step toward
collected debt, promises retained

fall against a wall so stained
to be raised up
while a martyr's crown trickles down
these moments freeze
and
oblivion's wrought poetry
in time inscribed on the riverbank
born witness to the gleaming grey
so clean under the silt

attendants to the altar stand
in white disassembly
reeling and casting again
and
these moments are all the same
detached from feeling
just another day to forget.