reckoning

The rain returns, settling bets and breaking fasts. The rooftop sluices gravel, and the river of sky spills over, wedding waterfalls with gutter streams, turning the wheel yet again. Green weeds and lovely mud scatter like markers on a map. The landscape squirms beneath the slovenly pavement, freeing aging rumors from shallow graves. All the ghosts in motion, the storm beckons and bends the mind askew. 

We place our labels, we hold our breath, we wait and wander through word and skin. The story steals our reason. The story clouds each sense. The world walks one way, and we go another, shouting slogans and singing anthems. The world moves on, and we do not even know its name.

I wait under the awning. I pace the muddy porch. Footprints on slick pavement. A figure in need of distance. A face that wears like a mask. I watch the flood swell and subside, never looking at the rain. The storm holds court in my heart, my dreams all born drowned. The reckoning all that's left me.