render

cedar smoke spires from off
fossil-strewn horizons,
ruching the length of sky-

dampness persisting more
deeply, never to
fully cure, only to warp

through the lining of
myself, a rubric
keeping this soul imbued

and disrobed, to drift
away from the fires where
all others mull and follow

and gather unaware
in a languishment
to render their tallow