Sleeping shadows across latitudes
Where children laugh in the solitude
Of freshly harvested poppy fields
Where milk starved cows
Pose naked for farmer’s calendars
Oil lamps hanging in glassless frames
Masquerading as cultural artifacts
While the shadows keep sleeping
Holding soulless imitations of man
Imprisoned in medieval fortresses
With married crocodiles dancing trancelike
Inside moats filled with liquid expectations
The moon wandering on stilts
Over neglected hopelessness
Avoiding the sleeping shadows
Owls flying with books of wisdom
Without plan or destination
While church bells hang dejectedly
From gallows smelling of death
Until the shadows awaken