Summer Brevis

The fight is over The skin is cool Sweat has turned rancid And soaked into clothes Now stained and stinking And skull once full of fire Has turned its insides Into placid black volcanic glass And we cannot catch our breath back But no flocks of colour, smell, touch, a recollection No friends again, no death by halves No, it was way too easy It was far too hard No, that's why it lasted That's why it ended Where infinite destinies Converge upon a fixed point And then just disappear into the blue But there's still a little bit of blood in the smile Still a little bit of shine on the bruise A little warm red ember, remembered Under the skin a little glisten to the blistering too A little bliss and ecstasy yet to squeeze Out of the days that we have left A glint in the middle of the black eye Still a little bit of fire in my breath Split in two However brave However brief and painless However loved, however long awaited However kind, however celebrated However survived and however grateful However fearless, however final However destined, however trialed However beautiful, however mended How the hell have I got it together And how How they will tell you Listen to the heart that's Squelching in your chest there How they will tell you: 'do your best' For a little sick simpering tyrant Inside the cavity cowering There's still a little languor left for the righteous A little love left out in the wild Still a little bit of blood in the smile Still a little bit of shine on the bruise A little warm red ember, remembered Under the skin a little glisten to the blistering too A little bliss and ecstasy yet to squeeze Out of the days that we have left A glint in the middle of the black eye Still a little bit of fire in my breath With death to all kings Comes death to all kingdoms Comes empire's collapse The end of days The fall of Rome The wreckage always coming home The cruelty and sadness That acts as the landscape's language Gradually changes, we forget The tinny taste of hatred The thing about humiliation A connection to the Earth The Earth we leave for inner space Become inert and fall away In changing form until we're lost A constellation of impulse Swallowed up by a wave I thought I was the crest of But there's still a little bit of blood in the smile Still a little bit of shine on the bruise A little warm red ember, remembered Under the skin a little glisten to the blistering too We are trying our hardest Not to let this be the end But if you want to chance it Let's see you dance then Let's see you go