Truth bows to serve
Human Desire. A reptilian
air sheds molts
of integrity;
summons new colors
to overtake the flesh.

Perhaps affection brands
the heart red,
but desperate diffidence
veils the skin with grey ash.
A mother checks on a mischievous
child; blue scales of sleep mask
the yellow of grins
and exuberance. Hunger
for vice; thirst
for virtue—Desire commands
these Truths to feign
dormancy. Time melts facade—
rapacious tongue binds
its prey.

Transmutation soothes
a shaking
soul; changes
battlegrounds
to playgrounds.