oh THAT aaron brown

When the future had no past
The Eternal stretched wide
Wings of imagination
Against the chaos of a moment
That could not last —
The shadows of his thoughts
Swept through the maelstrom,
Weaving shredded tapestries
From the shining threads
Of dimly remembered dreams

Churning at his roots,
Disconsolate time
Wept on the shoulder of space,
Murmuring of dominions
Lost with his awakening —
Only to be reclaimed
When the dust of his kingdom
Settled on the whispered
Equations of primal law
Governing existence.

He lifted his piercing gaze,
Captivated by the shifting patterns
Sweeping between the horizons
Above the crumbling towers
Over which he held sway —
Made bold by his strength,
The boundaries of order
Expanded and fought
To win structure and form
From the madness of the void.

Then, satisfied with his
World in twisted instance,
He reversed his outward journey
And returned to contemplation,
Furling his imagination about his senses —
Licking their wounds,
Space and time crawled from below
To resume their blind dictatorship
Of the chaos surrounding
His newly dying world.

© 1991, 2005, Aaron Brown

see

two facing mirrors
each an infinity within
you and you and they and we
looking past us and he
seeing me between

said

where in these many is me
am i among those i see
in this me i feel
the you way over here
and a me behind you there

says

when we were few
facing so many of you
the now compressed as then
here flowed up to where
time paused to be

seen.

© 2005, Aaron Brown

There is a harsh love
borne with the swift wind
which nips at the noses
and reddened cheeks of children
clad in snow over wool.

On a white-blanketed hilltop,
the children laugh
with nervous anticipation
of the screaming plunge
down the steep slope,
Slick lightning ride
to the bottom of the world.

The emerging stars wink
to each other and
the reminiscing elders
busy remembering their own
breathless, brakeless races
through endless bygone
evenings of yesteryear.

Darkness falls all too soon
but protests are stilled
by parents mustering the hordes
with promises of steaming cocoa
and hints about the wonders
waiting in bright boxes
beneath decorated trees.

Later, the wind brushes by
the sleeping houses of Midnight.
It plays with the pungent smoke
curling upward from chimneys,
and the soft flakes drift
into their appointed places
in tomorrow’s playground.

© 1991, Aaron Brown

Flitting amid the bright lanterns
Of stars in a winedark sky
Is a way to live and be
For backyard moths and I,
With our erratic and seemingly
Random dives and suicidal turns...

And the focus shifts......

Drifting among the firefly clusters
Of galaxies swirling through eternal night
Seems a fitting way to survive
For those spirits beyond our sight,
In the spirals of midnight they thrive
Drilling in their unmarshalled musters...

And another page turns......

Intoxicated by the scent of Eternity
The world spins its youth away
Drawn onward by whispers of twilight
From the darkness following day,
The shifting future twists at Midnight
And where it turns lies Infinity...

And a hand closes the book.

© 1991, Aaron Brown

The moon rises above the city
through an eternal cycle of days.

Watching

The city sleeps beneath bright stars
that its dwellers rarely see
for sidewalks capture their gaze
within mazes of their own devising.

Waiting

We live penned in by walls unseen
until some grand accident
drags our reluctant eyes
above our own trudging feet.

Waking

Then childhood dreams set us free
to chase bold pirates
and sail on airless seas
driven by winds of imagination.

Wanting

Still, the sly moon smiles wisely,
sharing secrets with the city below. 

© 1991, Aaron Brown