ashen egret
A djinn inside a glassy turtle neck
can feel the wish that hides behind your lips,
to twist the world and grant your whim with wreck
to mask with make-belief the humdrum trips.
But icy lamps maintain this brief mirage
with nauseous flames that veil the darkest thought,
and once the magic flees a dim montage
the luckless man desires a second shot.
So cold and lost, he seeks the fetching lane
to welcome back the sweet-and-sour lies,
beginning then an endless wheel of pain
that ruins his life before his dazzled eyes.
And soon or late he joins the fallen crew
of roaming bodies down this cursing brew.
boreal kayak