harbors

blast furnace wind rolling off the prairie 

the kind of wind that makes you realize 

we were all born alone 

I hugged the river hoping to find

some untouched virgin breath of cool

but Aeolus the slut for indifference he is

offered nothing 

I headed up Hawthorne 

wading through the souls

 of the beautiful desperate 

and the wicked surfeit 

looking up I caught her eyes

hanging out her window 

stretched out between 

where love lives

and love dies

she looked down

peeling away the layers of her soul

offering a shade

that harbors the most twisted and distorted 

remnants of love

later 

on the outskirts 

we watched Orion’s futility 

pursuing the ones he was never meant to love

our hearts gasped 

as we touched 

which was the hunter 

and which was the prey

trembling 

we fell into love

as the wind softened to a cool breeze