……the implacable enemies of the heart
My aliferous memories
the implacable enemies of the heart
their paper wings
their fragile paper wings
now flightless and frozen in the wind
long abandoned
upon the island of lost things
a place I can never return to
and a place I can never really leave
my own wings, now tragically broken
they speak your name, these paper wings
in the language of their sacred songs
and they never lie to me
because they know that my heart
remembers everything
they speak of a time long ago
when love was fresh and soft as spring grass
and despite the cyclical nature of seasons
I was blissfully unaware, that everything
was crumbling beneath my feet
now with the painful burden of reality
buried in the dead weight of winter
I exist here in this barren landscape
I wander these silent ruins alone
haunted by the ghosts of us
I can never escape from the pain
these shadowy memories
and their soundless paper wings
these fragile and brittle reminders
now all that remains in the dust of us
I ache to leave it all behind
this empty nocturnal world
and its carefully constructed illusions
the fragile dreams, that shatter at my touch
this place, where I know I am forever lost
in a recurring dream I remember
flying into the darkness, on silent wings
that were melting away like wax
rescued from falling, by fragile paper wings
and the slow beating, silken wings of mourning
© Ann Bagnall
