Pale and beckoning In my dreams again Reaching out A china hand Touching fingertips Veiled consequence of making a bargain with the dead I feel nearer When I lay my bones to sleep Solemn and delivered Broken but at peace Fragile betrayal in shades of white Bound, tied, bathed in light Yet cold and grey Buried down there in the clay Void and desolate Crumbling ashen lips whisper secrets to the wind Bloodied fingernails tear to no avail Entangled in roots beneath the snow She seems clearer In the icy ground beneath Silent and unyielding Shattered but complete Fragile betrayal in shades of white Bound, tied, bathed in light Yet cold and grey Buried down there in the clay Time and suffering won't change the four feet of earth between me and the spring I buried the sun and salted the ground in hiding the warmth where it won't be found I still hear her moth-flutter heartbeat as it disappeared Underneath the bruise-black expression of all that I fear Fragile betrayal in shades of white Bound, tied, bathed in light Yet cold and grey Buried down there in the clay