i corner the wind in a shadow
where breathes darkness shallow and quiet
and the air is shaped sharply aright
to form secret words from the voice of the dust
their meaning solved in my pain
a prayer drawn from the mouth of oblivion
silenced before spoken
to rise as the smoke of my believing
as the dust forgets from where it was shed
and oblivion waits for its final omnipotence
my pain is classified and filed away
the prayer to slip the ethers
and its smoke the faintest shadow in heaven
its secret the smallest wind to turn the sky
