Electrons do not have ears
    to listen  
As proteins wrap around 
  Each other 
  In the sacred
Obscenity of life

Carbon chains
 Enslave the mere 
  Immortal nature of 
    hissing atoms
In the folly and spasms
   that somehow 
  enshroud these 
moments of rapture,
    of sorrow and doubt
a folly that ends
  Inevitably 
In death

The sunset glints 
  across a beautiful 
unceasing horizon
  An ocean below
    teaming with life
  and, for now
polycarbonate detritus 
  of ancient life
 Long dead
Spent 

Her auburn hair
  and knowing smile 
     Entice
Their loins are burning 
    with desire
  The raucous clatter unfolds 
 The climax 
mimics the shapes
   of a lifetime …
Spent

Give us the cedar
Give us the wine
  That we may invoke 
the deaf blind gods of memory 

the Eternity of
Lifeless matter
  Patient 
   Waiting
  in Silence 
to eventually collapse 
    into
the black hole
  at the end of time  …
Like a forever lost golden coin
   the roar   of   silence 
      Spent

Scot Gresham-Lancaster
Brunswick Maine
December 29, 2024