I

                                           sunning on a cloudy day
                                           enchanted by cottony plight
                                           gray and white
                                           sky blue
                                           as my mind

                                           brilliant teasing
                                           in and out
                                           dizzily rolling clouds
                                           faces appear within the mist
                                           to demise
                                           among the crowd

                                                              II

                                           sweat-beads track down
                                           tickling my nose
                                           like comical tears

                                           numb from the neck up
                                           the shadows of days slipped by
                                           imprint a message on my soul
                                           DON’T LOOSE CONTROL

                                            “nevermore” the raven said
                                            starving soldiers eat their dead
                                            give me love is written
                                            between the lines
                                            of frozen fingers
                                            and jellied spines

                                                              III

                                            beams of light
                                            rip thru a darkening sky
                                            a ladder reaching
                                            where angels hide
                                            but the rungs are broken

                                            the sun has fallen
                                            now night wears on
                                            rain smacks the concrete
                                            a soothing song
                                            erosion

                                            peering thru the window
                                            of my wooden womb
                                            i see colors dripping
                                            from the wings of butterflies

                                                             Houston, Texas '81
                                                             Jerry Browning
                                                             Copyright©2009