Shadows and Shades

Shadows and Shades

I.
I cross the lawn
dense with shades and shadows
whispering family mysteries
as they recline on the
tree limbs of memory

II.
My grandmother's back is stiff
her tongue sharp and
her fiery temper fuels an
eviscerating glare which
barricades the crazed porcelain
of her hollow heart and her
haunting violated childhood

III.
High in the tree of knowledge
my brother clutches at a
brittle branch as if it were a
shimmering lifeline while his
body wastes away and he
finds himself ravaged
defenseless in the
diseased teeth of the storm
his mouth open in a silent
desperate scream

IV.
Dusk dark and silent
petals from misspent years
littering the yard
falling like rain on
sterile empty ground
whispering the past
is the future