Flames to ashes Ashes to dust Caged phoenix will rise     —Again Confined not With resolution newfound Turmoil of the     Mind         —Subsides… Tempest post     Ashes to dust Resolved thou shalt

Your heart is locked up in a fortress behind many bars Stronger than the prisons built by the Russian tsars Incapable of attachment, the only thing that lingers Is the love that slipped between your fingers

They call you the Philosopher's Stone, But no more do I feel Plato than I do Plath. Too late, the sham! Up And down, the roller-coaster of emotional highs And lows Empty hotel rooms, laughter filled Satin

I came to Seoul this morning After a night's delay in Shanghai She stood among the crowd Waiting I took her hand And she led me on Into the city we went Lost to the world The girl living in a black dress

The knowledge of men A finite thing For even science cannot mend Our ignorance of the eldritch beings The deathless Chinamen speak of the deep For deep within the watery abyss Lay the crypt city of R'lyeh

The cries of a clipped macaw Forever damned to the earth, it roams Dreams of soaring above the clouds Awaken in the steel cold prison, his electric throne Many moons he laboured in bounds Shackled by the

Fly me somewhere warm Where sunshine aplenty And the breeze gentle With hints of the sea The shimmering lapis lazuli I will bring with me A gift to you May our love never flee Will it be the same When

Machination of metal Rendering flakes green Fall indifferently Upon pale layer Pirouetting into cone peculiar of shimmering viridescence Igniting The feeble flame Growing With every pull With each pull

Image by Ivan J. Belcher Figures scarlet marching towards the crevice of my soul Fortress steadfast upon pastures where the winds blow Shadow of its former glory, remnant of empire past Will endure, 'til

My reflection in her blooming eyes, The corners of her mouth betray her vice. Back and forth like a scarlet tide, Her hair splashes from side to side. Her silhouette in my consuming eyes, Peeling away

Silently you left Just as silently you came You left a hole in my soul There is no one but me to blame Sleepless, at the end of the world Far across the seas I peer into the neon wondering if you're thinking

How many lives Has one led How many ends Nigh? Flickering in the pitch black night Yet life's flames burn bright Tenebrous pounding at the door When the gust cometh Yet steadfast is the unwavering light