The Darkness Wins

late winter blues

shades of night

the madding keys

of chopin’s mind

keening in my ears

breath comes quick

stark upon the air

but she’s not here

wet march snows

sleeting drifts

washington, d.c.

reunited lovers kiss

chestnut hair

cascades down

i whispered her name

and we forgot to eat

memory shifts

like distant clouds

below a mountaintop

glimpses open fast

of what’s left behind

melancholy waltz

darkness comes as

shards in a looking glass

her pale hand

caressed my brow

hushed words we spoke

my fingers in her hair

brown eyes flecked with grey

full honeyed lips

soft fingertips

before i her trust betrayed

stormy hands crash

the first ballade

chopin grasping

the darkling seam inside

though what’s dark

can be beautiful

glissando fingers

can’t cast grief aside

late winter blues

bleach the night

in a minor key

menacing trees sway

in violent thrusts

vestiges of lust

dark nights

luminous skin

i speak her name

in grey gusts

hanging in the air

the cold wind sings

on high octave strings

piano quakes

the artist raked in

the sounding board’s despair

clouds shift once more

lone streetlamp shines

cold hands dark veins

diminuendo calm

regret surfaces

fading memory like

snowmelt in a river

i am alone again

in this dusking world

some few chances

in this short life

years flood by

hair greys

hands reach for

her smirking face

only finding strife

arpeggios of soothing calm

linger on

cathartic balm for

ranging fits of madding when

seized by memory

beauty struggles

the darkness wins

and tragedy transcends

~e

Note: Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Op. 23