the air

i

The air is laced with something evil

There's a freight train going by

My soul is on it laced and tinged

The tracks are no more, for they have

Decayed as though rotted through the earth

And it carries me on a path

Of no return coursing through

My wishing mind

ii

The air flutters as if fate glitches

Glistening souls scatter the ghosts

Until none can flee for all have

Faded eyes traverse the ledges

To see what I would become

The sky my mind a blank canvas

Seeking a writhing heart emptied

And allowed to enter the well

iii

The air is electric and burns me

The train has almost reached Hell

Not before my soul cries out

In anguished agony for forgiveness

From God or man it knows not

Only that it's much too late

Sounds escape me now and then

My soul is abandoned unveiled

iv

The air is singed with the flames

Purifying but listen carefully—

Each crackle is a lie or doubt or

Pain or insecurity turned to smoke

And my eyes burn watching

The fire purifies too late

To fly away in smoke yet turn

Darkened to embers of night

v

The air is scented and ablaze

And I must flee from this place

While I still can

My eyes open to reveal another freight train

(or are they one and the same)

I know the ghost of a life is on it

My reality is not there or anywhere

Emptiness or uncertainty engulf me

vi

The air now glows with candlelight

And the moonglow saves me from this

What I never could grasp

There's a freight train going by

The ghost twinges with soulless grief

I hold in my hands what will soon ascend

It is faintly figured with edges burnt

And still it enters me softly

vii

See, I tell you—

The air is laced with something evil

Every second

A freight train rushes by

To shuttle shells of redemptive misery

To misery with no hope of redemption

The evil surrounds

It binds begs brandishes itself

I pray that it's not me