I resolved to ignore the calendar,
To deny the passage of space-time, to disfigure
Oneself from continuity, from plotted linear
Means through point A and point B; shadows blur
Pathways and mountain trails where herds of deer
Once grazed to escape the wiles of winter
As sunsets allowed the nights to draw in closer…

“Sagittarian archer, fellow sojourner
Who casts out the darkness with inner fire:
Please assure me that things will get better
Or more likely, grace my presence with chatter
And drive the demons out to break the barrier
Once reinforced with girded steel that made our
Invisible selves intact, but hard to bear…!”

A lifetime of looking at an alabaster jar
Containing an aroma that’s impossible to wear,
The perfume that reeks of unfulfilled closure
From destinies shattered like the death of a star;
I slept through the tumultuous passing of the hour,
Not thinking how much ground this snowstorm should cover…

“Sagittarian archer, fellow discoverer
Of distant geographies where only a powerful radar
Can detect faint traces: please enforce the departure
Of empty platitudes occupying the border
Between earth and skies, of people who render
You and I as pieces of invisible matter…!”

As I blankly stare in front of my mirror
With a wounded hand, clutching a bow and arrow
The naked man that I am, fighting a war
To stop the clock from advancing yonder;
I still keep the struggle tucked in a lonely jar.

– jkf, 30 November 2018.