"Day's jagged scrawl / at the end of it all"

Day's jagged scrawl    at the end of it all
nineteen, the north sea, hitting wave after wave
circling the pyre chanting complete belief
in the traffic passing the distracted dragon
and a hurricane ringing bells in the garden

"Hey faggot, are you a faggot? Because you look like one"
I was wading through velvet, this was on the subway
sorting what matters, to the left and the right
feeling corrugated while the holes in my jeans scabbed up

and the only illumination, though artificial, was from within
& pretty much infinitesimal in the darkling woods, darling

then the earth-shattering disturbance, discovered by the gardener
to his perturbation

& in the taxi to the airport, gladness, clean air
illimited ascendency of silent sunny relief
he was a ghost     then a corpse
after the night shakes crawling misuse
misery     music     abuse
war          then only        victory