I Knew How to Paralyze

my hands are trembling

and my eyes, ablaze

seized in red-hued feverish stillness

locked into a lifeless, red gaze

i cannot guarantee anything will remain

or does

in this calloused self

the body lies motionless against a fir tree

frozen mind is stiff and paralyzed, solid

ice grips its shoulders and stomach

a midnight wind shambles through

the forest waiting

frozen firs stand rigid at command

spindrift sparkles as subzero crystalline confetti

flitting about the arctic air

self-inflicted illness seizes

unforgiving, unstoppable, insatiable, infinite

the hand of death reaches down to the body

from a black stallion

robed in a swaying, jet black and dusted cloak

and sweeps us into a stride

the frozen firs stand rigid at command

and watch

as we ride into oblivion

and the darkness of night erases any truth of our passing