I am birthed from an egg in the forbidden land,
standing proud I stretch my arms out wide.
I then open my eyes and open my heart,
emoting memories as they pour into my cold mind.
And the flames. And the flames. And the sacred flames.
Carry me out to the infinite stars of knowledge,
where the Twin Goddesses of Truth petition the serpent
to teach them how to deceive the future.
The barge of the Gone Forever sails past
and it bows its bows to the flail and the sceptre,
turquoise and gold with the face of millennia,
its image forever burnt into my countless lives.
I, Mighty One of Enchantment, now fly
from the shell that holds my long sleep
to the thirteenth direction of my smile.
And the flames. And the flames. And the sacred flames.

I open my eyes.
The darkness is blackness.
The stillness is complete.
The silence is deafening.
I breathe in once
and the air is so warm.
The exhalation slow.
Why do I feel dizzy?
I move my limbs.
Realisation bites,
it is then that I scream.
A scream nobody will hear.

23/01/24

Red cotton thread looped
into a sharp silver needle.
Reliable, sturdy, practiced stitches.
In. Out. In. Out.
A repeated chant
as the needle continues its marching dance,
Its duty and its purpose.
Every ***** of the needle
draws little beads of pretty crimson blood,
the thread ties together
the pieces that have broken
and festered and weeped.
it’s been a never ending
rhythm of reinforcement.
Keep it in, keep it together.
The silver needle does its job.
The red cotton thread wears fast.

The speed of light matters little,
even from its initial burst.
It changes not the basic fact
that the darkness got there first.