Scales and Balance
Eric Bonholtzer
A swirl of dragon’s tail scales lights the night sky
Creating impossible stars, cold, impassive vacuums
Clearing away ephemeral dust
Like a book blown clean by wet lips.
Time falls and folds, chipped away
No one remembers the things forgotten by time
Right is replaced by innovation
And time stands still on a frozen computer.
The stone woman holds the scales, cradles them
The illusion of balance.
It is always this way, every time
Why would you expect any different?
One day they will build a railway to the sky
To the farthest disconnected star
Not to enlighten but to gawk,
And the ride will not be free.
This is the price of not looking around when you can
The television a one way mirror
Oceans swelling even in a storm
And the waves that beat back leering encroachments.
An illusion of balance
Would you expect anything different?
If you stop reading it, it will die.
And want, and plead for an audience
A resurrection. A bird of ashes.
Perhaps just strong enough not to be blown away by the gentle wind
Perhaps
You can’t expect anything different
So it will never be
Pyramids stand and crumble beneath the sun and stars
Against vines that constrict rock
Of a foundation built on sand
Always on sand. The titanic mistake forgotten.
You remember a memory but don’t learn:
Balance is an illusion
You expect nothing different.
