As Halloween passed and fall fell
You left me again for some far city
maybe emerald or steel or some other heady, glinting promise
energy lofting skyward the dreams of man
progress and potential.
You left and I unpacked my lamentations to keep me company.
Here in my own city
big enough that I’ll never leave
I arrange them about me
a comfortable menagerie of catastrophes
I know them all well
silver, gold
and they know me, too.
When I dust them off they yawn and stretch like cats and settle straight away into their litanies
a music of sorts, I suppose
but then I never was much of a composer.
They are nothing compared to whatever melody comes from the thought of you.
It’s just that when you leave, the cats yowl ever louder
the devil moon wanes towards thanksgiving
and I think that whatever intoxication I relax into when you’re near
is strong enough to chase away these old familiars
drown them all
leave me in peace