abide more tritone idle mode
if bodies into bodies steal

    as cockles swim
        or scuttle
    for hollowed hull
and drawing breath
    in darkness mull
        infallible
    and out of both
        bewilder

                •

abide more tritone idle mode
the dominant’s a leaky still

    for quiet divination
        for every thought
    a finger on
the fret-
    board’s shifting centre
and nothing dearer
    than the pure heart’s
        purring minor
    requires no
        demonstration

                •

abide more tritone idle mode
the poor heart’s pooling mirror

    for rivers must
        revert upon
    contrition
not on faith alone
    deliver
trembling notes
    on tearing bow
        the clerics call
    a devil’s acquisition
        a breathing hull
    as cockles cling
to boats they know

                •

abide more tritone idle mode
the shaper and the shaper’s skill

    made brilliant corners
        spherical
    while desperate will
sequestered crept
    in steady brass
the skid to dread
    we cringe
        that man carves flesh
    out of himself
        a flying V
    a tympani
a temporary
    residence

                •

abide more tritone idle mode
despite the light your light deprives

    we see it crest
        in savage angel
    changefulness
in faux-bourdon
    where devils scourged
Gregorians
    in antiphon
        where any pleasure
    fifths afforded
        flights aborted measure
    notes neglected
bird-
    inflected
space a bird denies