Little bluestem

contacts scattered like constellations
burning bright into the endless night
each a soul, each a world, each alive
night by night, one less winking light

this sky was a sea of diamond lives
scattered phosphorescent gold
a new moon sweep of snow and silence
now dark and void and clear and cold,

in those idle times, those quiet times,
we whispered loud words of always,
‘always’ a score of seasons ill spent,
those brief but eternal aching days

the stars are gone from the night sky
the darkness creeps close and chill
the prairie rustles false hopes and lies
the night eternal quiet and still

these tides of stars a universes breath
these empty skies now black testament
we dreamed in galaxies and expanses
nightwishes worn tattered and spent