Defiance Masks

Tonight

Heavy eyelids succumb to fluttering

First becoming rain showers of thought
Meandering tributaries
And finally
A river to forge
Footholds of precarious words
Wanting only to afford pathway
To mind's quieter listening banks

Yesterday

Bridges ceased to be
Beneath which
Mud and leaves congealed
Finding haven as residue
Memories of living times
Now but directionless currents
Sweeping out to sea

So too

The clock of sun and moon
Unravels the flow of interval
Like a fraying tale's hem
Where no amount of tying
Or untying
Can secure
An evolving destiny

Night remains

Respite for some
A merciless river of time for others
Its clock meandering downstream
Allowing daylight numerals to be jettisoned
While succumbing to night hours' cumulative weight
Submerging beneath one's pillow

Here

Where all
Save one's sleep
Converge like historic hunger
Upon flooding's compost of living
Awaiting night's soul-captive war

Enemies

Bear threat
Against ether's healing attar
One's eternal jasmine
Willing to forge the rapids of resistance

Defenses

Attempt the beguiling of persistent mongers
Wanting rest of tenuous clinging above fathoms deep
Where storm soaked burial clothes
Clamor to surface

On occasion

Morning's all-night persuasive fragrance
Makes passage to the other side
Disarms stubborn locks
Opens lead-heavy eyes
Discovers its home in the mind’s

Fresh perspective

Yet

Bubble masks of defiance will continue

As vanity fails to overcome the pandemic