at the wrong end of the spear
staring back, attacker attacked
assaulted in the meadow by the weapons lacked

shit stain, the face of earth
blood falls fast, the bleeding heart beats until defiled, the sinless robin’s birth
alight blue upon the ground, from the sky to the earth down, down

leave to leave, hurt to hurt, forty days and nights of fasting
the spirits of the bird depart
the faithless lark, sings in flight, in silence alights, the plumage of the muddy art
of mind, the soul’s cyclone joie de vie fighting fright in flight, the dark night
semiotics, semiotics the language of a bird—bobbed wings, cascading heart,
fear expressed, now heard

the lark alights a zoo, the cages washing over you
the impure revelation that the world revolves below your torn shoe
restart the treadmill, reforge the bronze thrill

spinning, spinning the trill echoes from the chambers,
a punctured lung once singing songs in flight, alight, the frozen ground, the day lost
the phantom of the wounded lark, surrender to the early frost