Roses Mean Remember

I go swinging over the harbor and dangle

from a drunken grin,

place a combination over me

and secure what remains within.

I take no prisoners

I believe no lies,

and I am building from the pyre.

Ivory and silken silver feathers

like whiskey kisses

take me over higher 

and higher.

I go night tripping

to kill the edge of empty time.

Sometimes it's bliss and

sometimes it's lonely.

Come the morning everything’s fine.

Break the skyline with vigilance

and fear not the solitude

because there's plenty time for dreaming

though sleep is but an interlude.

Shoelaces tangled in my fingers;

I touch the tread and exhale

a breath of ghosts gone to December. 

Summer's smile tonight is pale

and roses mean remember.