Tag Archives: Innocence lost

wormwood prayer

left behind
made level with the ground
this here is the zone of alienation
where our fleece was seared away
down to tender demon skin by
the afterburn

never were we made faithful
in your estimation
threaded instead down to the bone by
a tension of splayed tendons
hung out for worm & shame as
an afterthought

innocence is overrated
we guilty revere nothing
yet somehow still we yearn to fly

made to unspool here for why
have you ever feigned to care
fain have we not followed you true
& so our anima taps another vein
to scry beyond the sky for when
providence might let our carcass die

left behind so
make room for we in our dead life
afterburn so
torched earth abide our scattered bones
an afterthought so
let’s be real, call it empathy on fire

innocence is overrated
we guilty revere nothing
yet somehow we will learn to fly

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // The Dead Child. by Charles Hamilton Musgrove

Life to her was a perfect flower,
And every petal a jeweled hour,
Till all at once–we know not why–
God sent a frost from His clear blue sky.

Life to her was a fairy rune;
Her light feet tripped to the lilting tune,
Till all at once–we know not why–
God stopped th’ enchanting melody.

Life to her was a picture book
That her glad eyes searched with eager look
Till all at once–we know not why–
God put the wondrous volume by.

by CHARLES HAMILTON MUSGROVE (1871-1926)
Public Domain Poetry

aeaea (the prodigal childer)

to reveal the door long fraught for
is to reason why fate has led us here
by hand of you who’d known us once
our mother of mercy

o mother circe
who’d embosomed us through the blackest days
when omega dipped red our wings like bread
in canticles of twitting sorrow

in remembrance of you, we close our eyes
watery slides on blue tarpaulin
badminton upon zest green lawns
barefoot padding under orange skies

to reveal the escape long fraught for
is to reason why fate has chanced us here
by hand of you who’d known us once
our mother of mercy

o mother circe
neutral is the colour of our mutual extinction
all consciousness othering into decline
the collapsing of minds in a cage on fire

in remembrance of you, we close our eyes
your embosoming through our blackest days
past colours all fixed to forever rainbows
where we’d tabled our youth and sailed away

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021