I gave to you all the beautiful
truths and lies I could conjure,

keepsakes from a different time,
held breathless on the edge of all “maybe’s”.

And there you sat, a spiral through
creation stranded upon pale pages,

a siren born from static and bone.

And in this cacophony are faces
of the once-loved and always loved,

the tapestry of blood and hope
that spins off into the dark and

calls out in the echoes of dreams,
peering at us from rooms we dare not enter.

But here we remain.

Stardust fading into cruel time,
in breaths I can no longer muster.

Sit beside me and gaze up at an
orrery of words and rhythms lost

to the bows and shock of days,
the receding wave that fosters life.

My hands are tired.

I can’t keep on breathing thought
onto paper and ink;

Let the others of greater vision
and rhythms foster a new age

Where words can renew faith
and hope is ascendant.

Give this dreamer new life.

Copyright © 2021 Julio Angel Ortiz