Mikado

One shall find no greater peace

Than solitude on a winter eve

And though the footsteps of a thousand intruders

Bring a scream to the lips of the leaves

I know, no one shall find me here

One shall find no greater strength

Than the silence of a strong wind stilled

She carries no voice tonight

No thoughts weighted enough to wake me

I know, no one shall mind me here

For with these shadows draped about my shoulders

The approaching roar of a distant storm

Is naught but a muted whisper, and I

Lost, 'fore they ever knew to search

Pray tell, what swells the heart's coffers

For mad men, who gaze through dusted windows

And shuffle bare-footed across tired floorboards

For those who dress their souls in darkness

That come mourning, they will not find themselves

Out of practice, for I am betrothed to death

I hold her close to the chest, for it is but a single breath

She shall come for

One shall find no greater peace

Than acceptance chased with release

Of regret, to know that all

These apparitions may sieze

Is a breath, which I have given freely

One shall find none more righteous

Than the monster who cuts at its own flesh

To keep the blood fresh, to keep the innocent

From death

I know, no world more divine than here

We shed no tear for the darkness

At sunrise

We stretch our days to fit

Over the holes in our chests

I have bled for none other than

My dear death, whose letters I have read

For decades, and only just come to grasp

I shed no tear for the breath

She has come to take at last

I shall find no greater peace

Than this, the solitude of a winter's eve.