THE CIRCLET by John Swain

You lay your iron helmet 
on the dark field
to build a citadel ridge,
the sky banners embroidered
with fire lilies,
the sky unscrolls
from the canter of a horse
across the rampart,
smoke surrounds a dagger in the flame,
you decipher the offering glass
as I search the city
toward the evening
with a pure lamp,
I contemplate the stone swaths  
for the veil of your hiding.
 

John Swain lives in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, France.  His most recent chapbook, The Daymark, was published by the Origami Poetry Project.

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