Afternoon

Walking out on an autumn afternoon
Wipe the sleet from my eyes
Empty bird stands, empty garden
Sadly greying skies
Will I see recollections
Of the wind on any water?
Only pine leaves have stayed for winter
Where can build a bonfire?

Poor bird playing with a string
See how it wraps around your wings
Choking every song that touched the air
After a time life will fade
Like fog laid on a river
Only photographs are born again
Death goes on forever

Ginseng won't put life back into a tree when it is dead
So the ghosts of the afternoon
Go reeling and spinning
Making and dying
Like devils inside your head

Like washing on a line
Dance around in time
No purpose but to move with the wind
So a child kicks inside my womb and
Walk on meaning signs
You will find on an autumn afternoon
The loneliest place is your mind