To the East

We walked this night, you and I,
In a space reserved for lightning strikes
And littered corpses,

Over the upturned skulls, of mice and men.
You were not there and the road was empty;
In the moonlight I could see for miles.

Under the branches of a dead oak
I kicked at imaginary leaves
And fell down to sleep amongst them.

Dreams came upon me like forgotten friends.
In the first I was both Hero and Leander,
And the beacon still burned.

In the second I was only myself.
Thrust into a giant storm cloud,
I shot bolts of lightning into the sea.

In the final dream, I was the sea itself,
And I carried the burden of a thousand ships,
Drifting sadly to a thousand ports.

I awoke, exhausted, to the heat of flames.
Rushing through them I lifted my head
And set off to the east.