olmec jade

the hard bright green glints in the mud

the rain came and washed away

blood from tracks

left between

villages

stolen jade fell from a pocket

struck a stone and rolled away

bled-through blacks

spilt between

images

a carving a farthing’s worth of time

dissolving resolving in

lime and sacks

blown between

carriages

a gift not given laid aside

for gods long gone away

slide through cracks

lost between

marriages