First, you are a source of luminous wonder
Your brilliance fills the sky.

                                                            Then, a seizure of darkness
                                                            Collapses your vertebral tower and boats sink

In the harbor. A lighthouse pulls one
Hell of a shadow from inevitable blue depths. Haven’t you

                                                            Been the night-shredding radiance so many seek
                                                            Safe passage from? All the mythic creatures

Human hands have conjured from the depths come
Barreling towards the surface now.

                                                            The ocean floor raises continents
                                                            When it shudders. Your shaking

Is a séance. Summons ghosts from your throat.
The light flash behind your eyes sends night

                                                            Mares plunging into the ocean. Lighthouse
                                                            Zoetrope. See how the islands

Dress themselves with the illusion
Of dance. How the wreckage

                                                            Pulls itself back together with a crack
                                                            Like leg bones snapping.

One minute you are alive with such incredible light.
The next, phantoms peel themselves

                                                            From the clouds. An island forest grows haunted
                                                            With all the ships run ashore.

Somewhere in that forest, a tree falls
And crushes the only witness.