Continuous Tense

One quarter of a blue moon capsizes in the midnight
a bird whimpers in the eerie silences of darkness
fireflies search for meaning in the flames of their cold light
black roses dissolve inside the heart of melting darkness
not a single complaint in the long spell of catastrophic sighs
Elijah abandons love at the foothill of the fifth mountain
the woman has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
the world burns olive trees in the matchbox of lies
an unfinished song lingers on the broken violin's lips
melodies lose flight in the scarlet stream of loneliness
an empty room packs itself in the vacant box of the sky
so much love, so much love, so much love, so much love
struggling to breathe in the geography of a forlorn continent
the entire Northern Hemisphere plunges in absolute darkness
lovers walk on empty streets, greeting people they never meet
the sound of a speeding taxi, the heaviness of its leaving
the inconsolable sky cries beneath its gloomy tarpaulin
ghosts memorize the heartbreak of unfulfilled kisses
her anger is a hopeless static, his forgiving silence is stoic
her words are a color of shame, his love is continuous tense
they invent diagrams of dreams in the tenebrous incense
they sleep alone, they weep alone, in the cartography of their body
the psychology of a toxic world evaporates in their binary bonding
they leave only to arrive again in the commonplace of their longing.

© Jaspreet Mann. Continuous Tense. All Rights Reserved.