the fabric of night

see me as vermillion
locked with a tiny key a thousand years old
tarnished
tempered
by wind & water rising, rising

press me to cerulean between arms of sage & milo
smelling of yesterday's storm
penny-copper sharpness
bright
bold

I am a first snow
where
the
earth that lies between the cracks in the sidewalk
baked by sun
mysteries golden in particles of glass--dust
tarnished
tempered
by wind & water rising, rising

rain falls
on a plum tongue waiting for a cotton memory

and
a pillow

skin coral-pink bells of pulsing weathered molecules
ozone of ash & death
life trembling
tarnished
tempered

feel my azure evergreen shimmer against your thigh
slight--open
to line & moonlight
rising, rising

see me as vermillion
there amongst the night