Some moments cauterize the blood,
whether 
red sunrise over a frozen lake,
or 
making love.

Memory calls them like prayers,
like war,
writing history 
over peace,
its advancement, its inertia
breaking out
from phyrric victory 
to full scale retreat.

Ghosts battle in heaven
in the name of their gods
- rights infringed, thousands dead -
haunting romance at the edge of reason
constructing limits
on true freedom
where once were buildings,
called guilt and fear.

25/9/01