Tunnel vision

 The dirge was heard

In an echo

Of faceless voices

Down the tunnel escaping choices

On a single track minded train

Robber barons, and braids are framed

In forget me not knots

That tie down your friends

On the rails, down the line to freedom

Some signal man says you must change tracks

And hoops are thrown, like star jacks

To catch on the back of my hand

Like maps

I know so well, yet there's something I lack

A compass stored away

A needle on my lap

To follow the flow of flowers

down wild winding tracks

I see the gods of Ash collapse

In the leaves of their prayers

Their devotees, picking through snapped branches

Like grasping knobbly fingers of old witches

The skeletons of women trees

Who's men folk have wandered too far

Skeletons soon to be but ashes