A Tanto's Key

His blade cuts through the branches the dark silence of the moment bleeds through his kimono as heavy breath stalks into zen across the treetops spooks the owl a tender footstep ~ a glimmer of steel and cushioned reunion as a weapon draws into it's sheath. The nights cool chill creeps across moonlit shadows As he sits in hungry silence, just beyond the ray of light that beckons him to shelter beyond a shoji door. and for a moment she's aware of his desperate lover's stare, but knowing he's a wanted man reveals her gentle neck to him beyond the screen he only sees the back of her ~ a crackle of the leaves below a sudden shuffle and she turns; to glance into his longing eyes stabbing torture through the leaves If only she would honor me. She knows his pain but still remains beyond the shoji door in shame and in his voiceless plea he wakes; and before their footsteps breach his pain a tanto's key hung from his chest where a heart that long since bled to death once lay.