Gargoyle of Longing
by Ann K. Schwader

Lost desire calcifies
tear by tear on the stripped bones
some fading prayer left
to ravens

there is nothing inside
but a breath of derision
the merest quiver of cobwebs burdened
by foolishness of flies

what dies
entombs itself in earth unless
rejected even there
despairing

lays down its own slow sediments
of pain & rain
gray lineaments
familiar as a heartbreak.