Love Poem: Red
Bernard Chan Avatar
Written by: Bernard Chan

Red

from afar, leaves like uncounted catatonic fires  
huddled close
pinned to the chill air

a pointillist’s love affair with a hundred shades of red

the ground is a fresh wound, edgeless 

a breeze worries the boughs 
stokes the hanging flames into quivering  
crimsons 
scarlets 
vermilions 
renegade ambers

a slow burn resumes

accompanied by a susurrus of sighs 
a dirge for a season

and the summer sky, now turned slate,
is cremated