An emerald, a clover, grass that’s waiting to be cut,
cat’s eyes and Sheehan’s light, the beam of a young man’s heart.
Beveled glass in the morning light, palm fronds, pumpkin stem, chameleon’s default.
Please don’t lose your head.
Merlin’s cloak, sheep’s pasture, a fresh and virgin spring.
oak leaves and holly sprig, m’ lady’s velvet robe
A Season in Hell all bound up tightly in green.
Please don’t lose your head.
A chapel in the wood, dense and overgrown, lush leaves and
ivy creeping up the walls, the smell of rain, the apple worm,
sea glass on sandy shores, the tree outside my window, cracked.
Please don’t lose your head.
Gaian mind, moss creeping over rocks,
smooth surface of the water,
sharp flash of the glittering eel
like Mercury on white-crested waves or
a snake in the grass
in the nick of time
he slinks off
into one more starless sun rise
off he swims
away he swims
carrying your head
as the last leaf falls
from off the tree.