Just Held Aloft

Twisted treasure
Burning ashes
Mingled among such
Well-meant things

Emerald-green turtles
Slashes of winter
Disgruntled popes and
Exiled kings

Dirt and dust
Amiable drunks
Misread apologies
Torn into shreads

Well-thumbed pages
Flirting with boredom
Covers of sanity
Held together by threads

Tossed into pits
Prisons of words
Wishes ending unhappily
All wisked away

Martyrs and tyrants
Angels and demons
Snakes and songbirds
All come out to play

Clouds of sunshine
Blades of grass
Meandering away
Muttering so soft

Curls of misfortune
Inked-out despondent
Thoughts of joy
Only just held aloft