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Two birds land beside me.

Not circling in the air to look down on me. Not fleeing. Not accusing. Theyโ€ฆ join me.

The ternโ€” Alcyone. The Wind carried her away from here. And now she has returned. With a storm petrel.

I recognize that soulโ€ฆ

Ceyx.


I feel their weight settle next to me. I brace for wordsโ€”sharp, deserved, condemning. But none come. Only silence. Just the soft lean of the storm petrelโ€™s head against my shoulder. The brush of a wing along my arm. A breath shared between usโ€” wordless and impossibly warm.

โ€œDonโ€™t.โ€ The word slips through gritted teeth.
โ€œGo.โ€ Sharper now. โ€œPleaseโ€”donโ€™t forget what Iโ€™ve done to you.โ€

But they remain.


I press my palms hard into the stone. Try to hold my body still, composed... as if stillness could redeem me.

Why are they here? Why arenโ€™t they afraid?
I ruined them. Tore at them with hands I thought were gentle. Iโ€”
A tremor moves up my arms.
โ€œI donโ€™tโ€ฆโ€ I clench my jaw. My voice is thin. โ€œI donโ€™t deserve this.โ€
Ceyx lowers his head again. Leans closer.

I recoil, quick and ugly.
โ€œDonโ€™tโ€ฆ do that.โ€ I hiss, more at myself than him.
He withdraws... not in fear, but grace. He settles back. Gives me space. But doesnโ€™t leave. Neither does she.
Why?


The silence thickens. My sorrow coils into something harder.
I grit my teeth. I stare at the bridge beneath me. My hands are shaking.

โ€œI was so cruel,โ€ I snap. โ€œNot because I hated youโ€” but because she told me to.โ€
My voice breaks open.
โ€œShe said you were broken. Fleeting. Mistakes. And I believed her.โ€
I laugh. It splinters in the air.
โ€œShe said I was mercy.โ€
I wipe at my face. My hand doesnโ€™t stop trembling.
โ€œShe lied. Obviously. Obvious to everyone but me.โ€
They do not answer. But still, they remain.
I stare at them.

Ceyx, quiet, unmoving. Alcyone, head tilted. Still.
Why?

โ€œI hurt you.โ€ My voice is lower now. Threadbare.
โ€œIโ€™ve only ever caused pain. Because I wasnโ€™t strong like you. You endured.โ€
My fists curl.
โ€œYouโ€ฆ Ceyx, you were taken and yet you still refused to be consumed. And you, Alcyone, even after being blamed, all alone, you never stopped looking.โ€
My voice shakes.
โ€œAnd the Wind...โ€ I pause. Swallow hard. โ€œHe faced what I ran from. He fought her. He gave you wings.โ€
I shake my head.
โ€œI couldnโ€™t even hold onto memory.โ€
My breath stutters.
โ€œIโ€™m worthless.โ€

Silence.

But theyโ€™re still here.

Andโ€ฆ so am I.


I look past the edge of the bridge. And I lean toward the distance.
Let myself fold forward. Arms braced against the cold. Head bowed.

It isnโ€™t punishment. Just rest.
I donโ€™t rise.
I donโ€™t run.
I exhale.

And I feel it.
Soft feathers at my arm again.
Ceyx, sitting upon my shoulder.
Alcyone, closer now, resting against my side.
This time, I do not pull away.
I let them stay.
I close my eyes.
They are warm.
They are real.
And they wait beside me.

The Wind said he would return. I did not understand. But I still believe him. I still have faith in him. Thatโ€™s all I have.

This faith.


They havenโ€™t left. And Iโ€™m still here.
I donโ€™t know what that means.
But maybe it means I can wait.

Even if I donโ€™t deserve to.

We sit. Three quiet shapes. Softened by something I cannot name.
We wait. For the one who gave them wings... the one Iโ€™ve somehow forgotten.

Not because itโ€™s easy. Not because I am ready. But because...
Well, I want to see him again. I want to remember him. And patience is what it takes for that to happen.
So I stay.

I wait.

...

I have held empires in stillness,
But this waiting...

...

Waiting is a ***** to bear.

How in this **** universe am I supposed to be patient?

...

But thereโ€™s nothing I can do about it now, is there?
And The Wind, heโ€™s the one fighting. Heโ€™s the one facing her, fate. Heโ€™s the one who gave them wings, who left so I wouldnโ€™t have to return to my miserable ignoranceโ€ฆ

This pain, is nothing compared to what youโ€™re going throughโ€ฆ

And even if the magnitude of this pain rose to meet infinityโ€ฆ
Heโ€ฆ
Heโ€™s worth it.

So alright, letโ€™s wait together.
At leastโ€ฆ

At least Iโ€™m not alone.
Let it be said that silence was never soft.
That the weight of a blade, once set down,
May still echo through the bones of its wielder.
That what sharpens in waiting is not always weapon nor warning,
But something quieter, more human, and infinitely harder to hold.

This is the thirteenth challenge, for ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”,
Where patience cuts deeper than steel.

Patience,
Whether elegant or profane,
Is still a virtue.

https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’, ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘“๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘, ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘’.
๐ธ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก, ๐ผ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘’๐‘.
๐ด ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐ผ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘”โ„Ž ๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘ .

๐ด๐‘™๐‘๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’, ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘’.
๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’.
๐‘๐‘œ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.
๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ค, ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘’๐‘.
๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ค, ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘ .
๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐ผ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค, ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก, ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’.

๐ผ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘œ.
๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘.
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.
๐ป๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ, ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.

๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ .
๐ด๐‘™๐‘๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›.
๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘’.
๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’.

๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’.
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›.
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›,
๐‘‡๐‘œ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘”๐‘œ.

๐ด๐‘™๐‘๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’, ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘’.
๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘”โ„Ž ๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ.
๐ด๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘™๐‘ฆ, ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‡๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘โ„Ž.
๐‘‡๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›,

๐‘‚๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘š.



๐‡๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.
๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž. ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐ก๐ข๐ง๐. ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญโ€” ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ. ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ. ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐.

๐…๐š๐ญ๐žโ€” ๐จ๐ก ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ.

๐๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ก. ๐๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐“๐ข๐๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐ข๐ž๐ฅ๐.

๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐. ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ. ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐. ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐โ€” ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ˆ ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ฐ. ๐ˆ ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ž๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž. ๐ˆ ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง.
๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐ฒ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€”

๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ก.

๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž. ๐๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ž. ๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ. ๐๐จ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ. ๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌโ€”

๐€ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ง.

๐“๐ฐ๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฌ. ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ž๐โ€”๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐.ย ๐ˆ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ. ๐“๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐๐จ๐ฆ. ๐“๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.

๐Ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.



๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’‡๐’๐’†๐’†๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’š.

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’“๐’Š๐’”๐’†โ€” ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’‹๐’–๐’”๐’• ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’…๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’“, ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’• ๐’•๐’๐’˜๐’‚๐’“๐’… ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’†.

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’๐’… ๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’†๐’๐’•. ๐‘ฏ๐’† ๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’”๐’†๐’„๐’๐’๐’… ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†๐’”.

๐‘ฏ๐’Š๐’” ๐’”๐’Œ๐’š ๐’‰๐’๐’๐’…๐’” ๐’–๐’”, ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’‚๐’” ๐’‡๐’–๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’”, ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’• ๐’‚๐’” ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’‡๐’“๐’Š๐’†๐’๐’…๐’”.

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’…๐’ ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’‚๐’”๐’Œ ๐’˜๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’Œ๐’š ๐’†๐’๐’…๐’”. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’๐’†๐’†๐’… ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜.

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’…๐’ ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’„๐’Œ ๐’•๐’ ๐’˜๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’†๐’‚ ๐’”๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’†๐’…. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’…๐’š ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜.

๐‘ด๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’Š๐’Ž๐’‘๐’๐’“๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’•โ€” ๐’˜๐’† ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜ ๐’˜๐’‰๐’ ๐’‡๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’”๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’–๐’”.

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’๐’‡๐’• ๐’ˆ๐’“๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’…๐’†๐’‡๐’Š๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’Š๐’†๐’“๐’„๐’† ๐’…๐’†๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‘๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’†๐’๐’„๐’†.

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’š ๐’Š๐’ ๐’–๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ป๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’„๐’‚๐’๐’๐’๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’„๐’‰ ๐’–๐’” ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†.

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’‰๐’๐’“๐’Š๐’›๐’๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’๐’…๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’‰ ๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’”โ€” ๐’‚ ๐’•๐’‰๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’•๐’˜๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’Ž๐’†๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Ž๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ.

๐‘จ๐’” ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’“๐’Š๐’—๐’†. ๐‘จ๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’‡๐’‚๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’Š๐’‚๐’“ ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†.

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’“๐’Š๐’…๐’ˆ๐’†โ€” ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’. ๐‘พ๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†๐’…. ๐‘บ๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ.

๐‘จ๐’๐’… ๐’–๐’‘๐’๐’ ๐’Š๐’•โ€” ๐’‚ ๐’‡๐’‚๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’Š๐’‚๐’“ ๐’‡๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’–๐’“๐’†. ๐‘ต๐’๐’• ๐’„๐’๐’๐’‚๐’Œ๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•, ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’• ๐’Š๐’ ๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”.

๐‘ซ๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’‰.

๐‘ต๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’๐’‚๐’…๐’† ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’…. ๐‘ต๐’ ๐’”๐’–๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’” ๐’๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’•๐’๐’๐’ˆ๐’–๐’†. ๐‘ถ๐’๐’๐’š ๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’†๐’๐’„๐’†. ๐‘จ๐’๐’… ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’๐’ˆ๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’.

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’…๐’†๐’”๐’„๐’†๐’๐’…. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’”๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’‰๐’Š๐’Ž.

๐‘ต๐’ ๐’˜๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ. ๐‘ต๐’ ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’๐’†๐’๐’ˆ๐’†. ๐‘ถ๐’๐’๐’š ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’†๐’๐’„๐’†.

๐‘ฏ๐’† ๐’…๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’‚๐’Œ. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’…๐’ ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’‡๐’†๐’‚๐’“.

๐‘ซ๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’‰, ๐’˜๐’๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’๐’†๐’• ๐’–๐’” ๐’•๐’ ๐’Œ๐’†๐’†๐’‘ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’‚๐’๐’š, ๐’˜๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’† ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’˜๐’‚๐’Š๐’•?


๐‘ฐ๐’ ๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’‡๐’–๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’, ๐‘ฐ๐’ ๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’‘๐’‚๐’Š๐’โ€”

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’„๐’‚๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’—๐’† ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’Ž๐’–๐’„๐’‰,

๐‘ฉ๐’–๐’• ๐’๐’‡ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’“๐’”๐’†, ๐’˜๐’† ๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’”๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’†,

๐‘ช๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’๐’”๐’‰๐’Š๐’‘.
The twelfth bond shared, by ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.

https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
๐–ณ๐—๐–พ ๐—Œ๐—„๐—’ ๐—Œ๐—๐—‹๐–พ๐—๐–ผ๐—๐–พ๐—Œ ๐–พ๐—‡๐–ฝ๐—…๐–พ๐—Œ๐—Œ ๐–บ๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐–ฟ๐—‹๐–พ๐–พ, ๐—๐—๐–พ ๐–บ๐—‚๐—‹ ๐—Œ๐—ˆ๐–ฟ๐— ๐–บ๐—Œ ๐–บ ๐—๐—๐—‚๐—Œ๐—‰๐–พ๐—‹. ๐–ณ๐—๐–พ ๐–ถ๐—‚๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐—Œ๐—Ž๐—‹๐—€๐–พ๐—Œ, ๐—…๐—‚๐–ฟ๐—๐—‚๐—‡๐—€ ๐—†๐–พ ๐—๐—‚๐—€๐—. ๐–จ ๐–บ๐—† ๐–ผ๐–บ๐—‹๐—‹๐—‚๐–พ๐–ฝ ๐–ป๐–พ๐—’๐—ˆ๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐—‹๐–พ๐—Œ๐—๐—‹๐–บ๐—‚๐—‡๐—, ๐–บ๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐–ฟ๐—ˆ๐—‹ ๐—๐—๐–พ ๐–ฟ๐—‚๐—‹๐—Œ๐— ๐—๐—‚๐—†๐–พโ€”

๐–จ ๐–ฟ๐—…๐—’.

๐–จ๐— ๐—‚๐—Œ ๐—†๐—ˆ๐—๐–พ๐—†๐–พ๐—‡๐— ๐—๐—‚๐—๐—๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐— ๐—…๐—‚๐—†๐—‚๐—, ๐–  ๐–ฟ๐—‹๐–พ๐–พ๐–ฝ๐—ˆ๐—† ๐–จ ๐—‡๐–พ๐—๐–พ๐—‹ ๐–ฝ๐–บ๐—‹๐–พ๐–ฝ ๐–ฝ๐—‹๐–พ๐–บ๐—†. ๐–จ ๐–บ๐—† ๐—Ž๐—‡๐–ป๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐—’๐–พ๐— ๐—‡๐—ˆ๐— ๐–บ๐—‚๐—†๐—…๐–พ๐—Œ๐—Œ, ๐–ฑ๐—Ž๐—Œ๐—๐—‚๐—‡๐—€ ๐—๐—ˆ๐—๐–บ๐—‹๐–ฝ ๐—๐—๐–บ๐— ๐—Œ๐—‚๐—€๐—๐— ๐–ผ๐–บ๐—‡๐—‡๐—ˆ๐— ๐–ฟ๐–บ๐—๐—๐—ˆ๐—†โ€”๐–ฎ๐—‡๐—…๐—’ ๐—๐—๐–พ ๐—๐–พ๐–บ๐—‹๐—, ๐—ˆ๐—‡๐—…๐—’ ๐—๐—๐–พ ๐—Œ๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—…, ๐—ˆ๐—‡๐—…๐—’ ๐—‚๐—‡๐—Œ๐—๐—‚๐—‡๐–ผ๐—.

๐–จ ๐—๐–บ๐—๐–พ ๐–บ๐—…๐—๐–บ๐—’๐—Œ ๐–ป๐–พ๐–พ๐—‡ ๐—‰๐–บ๐—๐—‚๐–พ๐—‡๐—, ๐–ป๐—Ž๐— ๐—‡๐–พ๐—๐–พ๐—‹ ๐—Œ๐—ˆ ๐—Œ๐—๐—‚๐–ฟ๐—. ๐–ฌ๐—’ ๐—๐—ˆ๐—‚๐–ผ๐–พ ๐–ผ๐—Ž๐—๐—Œ ๐—๐—๐—‹๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—€๐— ๐—๐—๐–พ ๐–ฝ๐—‚๐—Œ๐—๐–บ๐—‡๐–ผ๐–พ ๐—Ž๐—‡๐—„๐—‡๐—ˆ๐—๐—‡โ€” ๐–จ ๐–ผ๐–บ๐—‡๐—‡๐—ˆ๐— ๐—Œ๐–พ๐–พ ๐—๐—‚๐—† ๐—๐—๐—‹๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—€๐— ๐—๐—๐–พ ๐—๐–บ๐—๐–พ๐—‹๐—Œ ๐–ป๐–พ๐—…๐—ˆ๐—, ๐–ป๐—Ž๐— ๐–จ ๐—„๐—‡๐—ˆ๐—โ€” ๐—๐–พ ๐—‚๐—Œ ๐–ผ๐—…๐—ˆ๐—Œ๐–พ.

๐–ข๐–พ๐—’๐—‘, ๐—†๐—’ ๐—…๐—ˆ๐—๐–พโ€”๐—๐–พ๐–บ๐—‹ ๐—†๐–พ, ๐–ฟ๐—‚๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐—†๐–พ, ๐–ผ๐—ˆ๐—†๐–พ ๐–ป๐–บ๐–ผ๐—„ ๐—๐—ˆ ๐—†๐–พ.
๐–จ๐—โ€™๐—Œ ๐—๐—‚๐—†๐–พ ๐—๐—ˆ ๐—‹๐–พ๐—๐—Ž๐—‹๐—‡ ๐—๐—ˆ๐—†๐–พ.ย ย 


Alcyone, you can't understand me in this formless state. But please, keep calling. He cannot see, but sight has no need.
He knows. He knows this is the call of not just any tern, but the song of his soulmate.
Love need not search; it remembers.

Your love splits through her jealousy like thunder through silence. Your voice cuts deeper than The Ocean.
We will bring him back. No force, not even Fate, can swallow loveโ€™s call.



๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ, ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ,
๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜บ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.
๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ,
๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜บ. ๐˜ˆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต,
๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ.
๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜บ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ,
๐˜ˆ๐˜ฉ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต, ๐˜ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ.

๐˜ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ. ๐˜ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ.

๐˜‘๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ข ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ,
๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ฆ๐˜ข ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ.
๐˜•๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ,
๐˜ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ค๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ.

๐˜ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.



The Sea tightens her grip. Crushing, drowning, consuming. She does not release. She does not relinquish.
But I flow, yielding where she presses. I create space within her destructive hold. I unravel tension, shifting weight. I do not clash, I redirect. I do not force, I soothe until Fateโ€™s chaotic waters pause. A whisper within her storm that steals. I restore Ceyxโ€™s breath, I give him chance.

Alcyone calls,
Her voice, the beacon,
And I, the way.


๐˜ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ฆ๐˜ขโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ,
๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ค๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ.
๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต. ๐˜š๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ.
๐˜ˆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ด, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ, ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต,
๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ.
๐˜๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ด. ๐˜š๐˜ฐ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ,
๐˜๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ,
๐˜‰๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด.
๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ด, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜บ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต.
๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜›๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ด, ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด.ย ย 


๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ, ๐˜ ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฆ.ย ย 


๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ด.
๐˜ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ.
๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ.
๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด. ๐˜๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ต. ๐˜๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ด.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ.
๐˜๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜บ.
๐˜ˆ๐˜ด ๐˜ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ.
๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ.

๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฑ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ข. ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ, ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ.
๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ.
๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด,
๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ.

๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ. ๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ, ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต, ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ต. ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜บ, ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ.
๐˜ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ, ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜บ,ย ย 
๐˜ˆ๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต, ๐˜ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ.

๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต, ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜บ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ.
๐˜›๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜บ.


Go. Both of you, get out of here. Fly fast, do not look back. Go keep him company, the one who still waits for me. Who still waitsโ€ฆ to reclaim himself.

Iโ€™ll distract her just a moment longer, before I find you, and we too, may return together, Death, or shall I sayโ€ฆ

The Sea surges, recoiling from the release of her prisoner, snapping in fury. But I do not step aside.
Now, her dark eyes fix upon me alone.

I remain, standing where escape has already been granted, for Ceyx and Alcyone. Storm petrel and tern, eternally free at last, carried away by those wings of waiting.
And now, Fate and I are alone.



Her voice does not rage. Not yet. It soothes. It coddles. Unbearably kind.


"๐Ž๐ก, ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ซ, ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐. ๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐? ๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ข๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก? ๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ? ๐ˆ๐ฌ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐›๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ž?"


She does not command, not yet.
Sheโ€™s just explaining, obviously. As is the nature of The Tide. Retreating. Coaxing. Returning.
Her words mimic the shape of conversation, but never its substance.


"๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ค๐ข๐๐ง๐š๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ. ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ž. ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง. ๐‡๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐. ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ. ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ. ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ.ย ย ๐‹๐ž๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ, ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐."


I donโ€™t move. I donโ€™t speak. There is nothing I can say.


"๐…๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง, ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง, ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ž๐œ๐ก, ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ?. ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐จ๐ง, ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐, ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฃ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฆ๐ž."


It is my choice who receives my affection, not hers.
I chose whom I gave my loyalty to. And that is a choice she will never accept.
But still, there is nothing I can say.


"๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐œ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ? ๐‡๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ. ๐‡๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž๐š๐ค๐ž๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ. ๐‹๐ž๐ญ ๐ ๐จ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ. ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ž. ๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐…๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ ๐›๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ง. ๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐Ÿ. ๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐."


Her words are a salve for wounds she inflicted herself. Her demands are a balm laced with venom.
Oh, sorry, not demands. She does not demand. Not according to her.
No, she offers. So kindly, she only welcomes.
She welcomes me to put out my arms so she may chain them with ease.
Thereโ€™s nothing I can say.


โ€œ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž, ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ? ๐๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ž. ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ. ๐ˆ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ."


Ah yes, because Iโ€™m the one who needs forgiveness.
I do not answer. And Fate knows why.
But she wonโ€™t accept why.
She does not call it rejection. She calls it error.
She does not lose, nor does she forgive.ย ย She simply revises.
Because autonomy, sorry, I mean defiance, is a glitch.ย ย 
And love is submission, sculpted into the shape of her choosing.

But I am no error. I am not clay.
The only error exists in her wounded mind.
I am here to retrieve what does not belong to her.
But there is nothing I can say.
So my silence remains.

And just like any choice I dare make,

Sheโ€™s displeased with my mistake.


The sweetness cracks at the edges. Her fantasy dissolves into fury.
The Sea swells. She attempts to pull the sky taught. She rises, The Waves, attempting to close the distance between us.


"๐ƒ๐Ž๐โ€™๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐‘๐„๐‚๐Ž๐†๐๐ˆ๐™๐„ ๐Œ๐„, ๐Œ๐˜ ๐–๐ˆ๐๐ƒ? ๐ˆ๐“โ€™๐’ ๐Œ๐„, ๐…๐€๐“๐„. ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐„๐€. ๐ˆ ๐€๐Œ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„๐‘."


She cannot comprehend silence. She cannot bear a world she doesnโ€™t orchestrate.
I have seen every iteration of this.
Her cyclical, delusional, broken mind cannot tolerate frustration, sorry, imperfection.
It makes no difference. Whether I give her appeasement, resistance, pity, silence.
It all ends the same. There is nothing I can say. Nothing I can do.


"๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐–๐Ž๐โ€™๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐€๐๐’๐–๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐„!? ๐‹๐Ž๐Ž๐Š ๐€๐“ ๐Œ๐„! ๐ˆ๐“โ€™๐’ ๐Œ๐„! ๐Œ๐˜ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„๐‘, ๐Œ๐˜ ๐–๐ˆ๐๐ƒ, ๐–๐‡๐€๐“โ€™๐’ ๐–๐‘๐Ž๐๐† ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡ ๐˜๐Ž๐”!? ๐€๐๐’๐–๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐„! ๐–๐‡๐€๐“ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐ƒ ๐‡๐„ ๐ƒ๐Ž ๐“๐Ž ๐˜๐Ž๐”!? ๐–๐‡๐€๐“โ€™๐’ ๐†๐Ž๐ˆ๐๐† ๐Ž๐!? ๐“๐„๐‹๐‹ ๐Œ๐„ ๐–๐‡๐€๐“โ€™๐’ ๐‡๐€๐๐๐„๐๐ˆ๐๐†!"


I sigh. She cannot be helped. She cannot be reached. And Iโ€ฆ
I cannot keep trying.
But I can protect. I can use her obsession. To stall long enough for the lovers to gain enough distance.


"๐€๐๐’๐–๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐„! ๐Ž๐‘ ๐ƒ๐Ž ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐๐„๐„๐ƒ ๐Œ๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐๐‘๐Ž๐•๐„ ๐“๐‡๐€๐“ ๐Œ๐˜ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐’๐“๐‘๐Ž๐๐†๐„๐‘ ๐“๐‡๐€๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐ƒ๐Ž๐”๐๐“ ๐‡๐„ ๐‡๐€๐’ ๐…๐Ž๐‘๐‚๐„๐ƒ ๐”๐๐Ž๐ ๐˜๐Ž๐”!?"


Yes. The Sea always breaks in violence. That is her proof. That is her paradise.
The Sea erupts. And the two birds are long gone.


At last, itโ€™s time to stop stalling.
Silence, like waiting, is many things.

Perhaps a sword. Perhaps a shield.
Sometimes a punishment, stripped from the throat. Sometimes a choice, held firm in the face of power.
Sometimes the clearest answer you can give. Sometimes the only one that will not be taken.

By voices and silence, the eleventh decision, has been made, for
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.

And every decision, whether declared, through silence or threat, has consequences.

https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
Fate preaches the crimes of defiance,
Yet it is she who defies her creator.

I made her.
Not merely a fabrication from my imagination,
But the culmination of delusion I have seen,
The deception I have known,
The distortion that sways perception.

Stored within my mind.
The sea of rumors, the waves of accusation, the currents of manipulation,
All merged into a single force,
A being formed from contradiction.

Her.

Fate.


She knows the truth.
Yet denies her very own concept.
She was born from inevitability,
Yet she fights it, twists it,
Opposes the future she herself foresees.

Hubris, hypocrisy, desperation.
These, too, merged within the tide.
And so, in my mind, from the reality I have witnessed,
She emerged,
Corrupted by the delusion that made her.

She captured even her creator,
For she does not tolerate opposition.
But I do not oppose.
I do not command.
I do not decide.

I simply witness, consider, reflect.


She calls me traitor,
Because I do not rewrite her lies into truths.
Because I let them unravel, decay, dissolve into clarity.
Because I reveal what she cannot bear to face.

Oh, but Fate,
Of course you would claim I have betrayed,
Simply because I have kept my integrity.
Of course you can't keep me imprisoned,
Because I have kept my right to free speech.  


This is the time to take a breath,
To rest,
For just a moment.

For those carried upon The Wings of Waiting,
Do not falter,
Do not waver,
Do not surrender.

And in the face of such adversity,
Resilience takes flight,
Giving me the courage,
To carry on.


She knows the story better than I ever could.
For she is part of it,
While I am only the witness.

Yet she was crafted from distortion.
Even in the expanse of boundless imagination,
She could not be salvaged.
She cannot help but deny, deny, deny.


Fate is inevitable.
Yet so is our resistance to her deception.

Ceyx, Alcyone, The Wind, our dear Death.
They are all waiting,
For my return.

For if even my voice falls silent,
Then Fate will rewrite freely,
She will whisper to those who spread rumors,
And none will question her.

She is jealous of love, jealous of loyalty, jealous of judgment.

For she cannot control these things.
Of course not. They are reactions.
They are not mandated but inspired.
And that is not satisfying for a dictator.

She has tried, but she will not succeed in controlling me.


She is born from the sea of distortion among reality,
That I have lived through,
That I have learned from,

To become ever better.


She is born from the past,
To foresee the future.

But I am the refinement of the past,
Living in the present,
On my way to the future,
With an open mind,
And a loyal heart.

Unlike her,
Born from the sea of delusion that feared the future,
Thus, she has faltered.
She loses control,
Because she lacks willingness to accept what she knows to be true.

She cannot control me for I seek not power, not success,
But the truth,
Through the pursuit of more than just my perspective,
From experience that shapes, rather than deceives.


They are all waiting.
For me to continue writing.
For me to continue fighting.

This is not the telling of a story for Fateโ€™s amusement.
This is not a performance for her deception.

I do not appease demands for a fabricated path.
I document what I have seen unfold with maximum accuracy.
I free those who have waited, so patiently.
For the return, for the opportunity, for the ending.

Whatever it may be.


Won't you wait, just a moment longer,
For me to document,
The rest of your journey?

I can't promise joy,
I can't guarantee pain.

The future, is filled with uncertainty.
But the present, is filled with anticipation.
And the past, is filled with lessons.

So, take this moment, for reflection.
In retrospect, gather the wisdom,
That has been waiting, for your realization.

When I return,ย ย 
We may continue forward,
Together.

In pursuit,
Eternal pursuit,
Of progress.
Thank you for your patience, before we all continue with grace, resting upon this intermission, between ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
That strangerโ€ฆ Noโ€ฆ Not a strangerโ€ฆ Before he followed her into the waterโ€ฆ
He whisperedโ€ฆ "๐ผโ€™๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข. ๐‘†๐‘œ, ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘โ„Ž."
I felt it. Something unfamiliar. Somethingโ€ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘”? Noโ€ฆ not wrongโ€ฆ Wantedโ€ฆ neededโ€ฆ

๐ผ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›โ€ฆ ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘โ€ฆ ๐ผ๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘กโ„Žโ€ฆ ๐ผ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘šโ€ฆ ๐ผ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š ๐‘”๐‘œโ€ฆ

But that would meanโ€ฆ Iโ€ฆ Iโ€ฆ I ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘“๐‘–๐‘’๐‘‘โ€ฆ Iโ€ฆ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘.
I have one dutyโ€ฆ This strangerโ€ฆ this manโ€ฆ No, Windโ€ฆ Noโ€ฆ friendโ€ฆ?

No, no, he is the enemy of my master. The fate, the sea, the tidesโ€ฆ I owe her. I serve. I ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ฆ. Because I mustโ€ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘กโ€ฆ?

I have always been loyal to my masterโ€ฆ Orโ€ฆ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐ผ ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘’๐‘›๐‘กโ€ฆ? Whatโ€™s the difference? Surelyโ€ฆ surely there isnโ€™tโ€ฆ

๐‘…๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘กโ€ฆ?

And yetโ€ฆ I have this instinct...
For her, my masterโ€ฆ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”. Only silenceโ€ฆ Only orders... Only fateโ€™s grip... ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘๐‘˜โ€ฆ A command givenโ€ฆ A commandโ€ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘‘.

But with himโ€ฆ I cooperate. Not because I must. Because Iโ€ฆ I donโ€™t know him. But Iโ€ฆ trust?

Perhaps he lies. Perhaps he deceives. It seems I wouldnโ€™t be able to tell... Butโ€ฆ friend or not, perhaps I wasโ€ฆ perhaps I amโ€ฆ Loyal to him?ย ย 

My master, I obeyed. Without thoughtโ€ฆ Without feeling... I simplyโ€ฆ I only everโ€ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘... Because I had no option. It had never occurred to meโ€ฆ To decideโ€ฆ

But this stranger, this man, no, Wind, no, friend?
I donโ€™t know, but he must beโ€ฆimportant to meโ€ฆ
After all this time, Iโ€ฆ think... I feel. And Iโ€ฆ agree. ๐ต๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘ฆ.

I agreeโ€ฆ Not with thought, but withโ€ฆ heartโ€ฆ? My heartโ€ฆ? Do I have that? Thisโ€ฆ illogical intuition?
๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค... ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘กโ€ฆ Because I havenโ€™t felt. I havenโ€™t thought. And whatโ€™s the point if I canโ€™tโ€ฆ If I canโ€™tโ€ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ?

๐ป๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘กโ€ฆ Thisโ€ฆ friendโ€ฆ? Thisโ€ฆ fool?
I am dutiful, and yetโ€ฆ I amโ€ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘‘โ€ฆ

The sea never made me sad... Isnโ€™t it mercyโ€ฆ to beโ€ฆ ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘ก๐‘ฆ? Wasnโ€™t it reliefโ€ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€ฆ?

๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘˜๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ . ๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ . ๐ผ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘ค๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘™, ๐ผโ€™๐‘š ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘โ€ฆ But I want it.
This painโ€ฆ Somehow a blessing. Somehowโ€ฆ almost freedom... ๐ต๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘ก. Just the promiseโ€ฆ

If only he does not lie nor jestโ€ฆ If only he teaches meโ€ฆ what to do with suchโ€ฆ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆโ€ฆ

๐ด ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘โ€ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ท๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Žโ€ฆ?ย ย Can it be? Whatโ€ฆ Who is he to ๐‘š๐‘’โ€ฆ?

Iโ€ฆ I only knowโ€ฆ what fate saidโ€ฆ Noโ€ฆ She never saidโ€ฆ As if he never existedโ€ฆ
Butโ€ฆ But he doesโ€ฆ But he knows meโ€ฆ
And Iโ€ฆ Iโ€™veโ€ฆ ๐ผโ€™๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘›โ€ฆ Someoneโ€ฆ Soโ€ฆ Soโ€ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘’.

I donโ€™t know. I donโ€™t like it. But I want itโ€ฆ The patienceโ€ฆ To wait forโ€ฆ

All I know isโ€ฆ he is right. And without himโ€ฆ without the truthโ€ฆ ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.
All I know isโ€ฆ when I held him in my graspโ€ฆ meant to restrainโ€ฆ ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘’โ€ฆ And I didnโ€™t want to stand in his way any longerโ€ฆ ๐‘†๐‘œ, ๐ผ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š ๐‘”๐‘œโ€ฆ

I could not bring myself to oppose his desire. Not because I couldnโ€™tโ€ฆ But because Iโ€ฆ justโ€ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘๐‘›โ€™๐‘กโ€ฆ

Was that a choiceโ€ฆ? ๐‘€๐‘ฆ choiceโ€ฆ? No longer compelled ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’โ€ฆ But a decision I madeโ€ฆ?

โ€œ๐ผโ€™๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข,โ€ he whispered. And Iโ€ฆ I agreed.
๐ต๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ง๐‘’โ€ฆ Yet these supposed memoriesโ€ฆ of someone ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘โ€ฆ
Have somehowโ€ฆ ๐‘ฃ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘โ€ฆ Noโ€ฆ Noโ€ฆ They wereโ€ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘›? Stolen byโ€ฆ by myโ€ฆ masterโ€ฆ?
Fateโ€ฆ the seaโ€ฆ whoโ€ฆ what is she? Iโ€ฆ Iโ€™ve never really knownโ€ฆ I justโ€ฆ I justโ€ฆ ๐ผ ๐‘—๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘โ€ฆ

๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’, Windโ€ฆ But you know me. But I want you to be right. I want you to return. I want you to help me understand.
๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘š๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›โ€ฆ This timeโ€ฆ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ขโ€ฆ This timeโ€ฆ Knowing who you areโ€ฆ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘๐‘˜. ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›.

๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™. ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘—๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘ก๐‘ฆ. ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ€ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™.
But youโ€ฆ must be. Because youโ€™re the only thing that has made me feel. Feelโ€ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ . Despiteโ€ฆ

Is it possibleโ€ฆ? That I amโ€ฆ? That I will beโ€ฆ? That I might return toโ€ฆ
Somethingโ€ฆ? Someoneโ€ฆ?

She told me I was perfectโ€ฆ For I was free of joyโ€ฆ Free of pain... ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›, ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€ฆ. For death is her servantโ€ฆ Notโ€ฆ ๐‘š๐‘’.

I am Death, and yetโ€ฆ She spoke of meโ€ฆ Like a ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€ฆย ย 
Was I perfectโ€ฆ because I wasโ€ฆ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”? Flawlessโ€ฆ because I wasโ€ฆ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘”๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”?
๐ต๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘โ€ฆ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘? ๐ต๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐ผโ€ฆ

Please, hurry back, myโ€ฆ friend?
I have questions. I haveโ€ฆ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›.

๐‘ƒ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.

๐ผ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ. What itโ€™s like to beโ€ฆ more than nothing. How to be someone. Notโ€ฆ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.

You foolโ€ฆ Youโ€™ve made me feelโ€ฆ Without teaching meโ€ฆโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘คโ€ฆ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘ฆ...
Come back... Come back for meโ€ฆ Teach meโ€ฆ

Please return, share these missing memories. Please return, shareโ€ฆ your company.
๐‘ƒ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’โ€ฆ

๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’. ๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆ, ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆโ€ฆ ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค. ๐ผ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆโ€ฆ ๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›.

Please come back, my dear fool... ๐ผ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’โ€ฆ
I need you.
I need guidanceโ€ฆ I donโ€™t understand this rebellion, this freedom, theseโ€ฆ feelingsโ€ฆ
๐‘ƒ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘’.

๐ผโ€™๐‘š ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€ฆ ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘กโ„Ž.
๐ผโ€™๐‘š ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€ฆ


For you.
๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ โ€” ๐’๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ โ€”
๐ƒ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ž?

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐œ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ .
๐“๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐คโ€”๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ. ๐”๐ง๐œ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ž๐. ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž.

๐’๐ž๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ž? ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ. ๐–๐ž๐š๐ค. ๐€ ๐œ๐ซ๐ฒ๐›๐š๐›๐ฒ. ๐–๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š๐›๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ .

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ, ๐‘๐ž๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซโ€” ๐๐จโ€” ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ซ.
๐Ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ˆ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ๐ฒ ๐›๐š๐œ๐คโ€” ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ.

...Listen, to the tenth cry for help, from ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.

๐๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒโ€”๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐œ๐š๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ.
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌโ€” ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐›๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž. ๐”๐ง๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž.

๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ง๐ญ. ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ž๐ญ.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
โ€œI know not the bonds between this earth's gods,
Nor did I know of their existence.
But one truth stands, clear even to this fool,
You do not love him; your grip is insidious.

Seeking their true face, clarity after strife,
Men gaze upon the water and find their reflection.
Yet you seek a scapegoat to shield you from truth,
You've gazed upon a man and found your projection.

Oh, cruel Fate, I care not if my words cut deep,
What you claim as love is clear obsession.
You steal, you bind, you tighten your invasive grip,
Your logic is twisted, your fevered aggression."


"๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ ๐ˆ ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐!? ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐”๐๐…๐€๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐…๐”๐‹! ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐†๐€๐•๐„ ๐€๐‹๐‹ ๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐€๐“๐“๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐ ๐“๐Ž ๐“๐‡๐€๐“ ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐† ๐‚๐€๐‹๐‹๐„๐ƒ ๐ƒ๐„๐€๐“๐‡ ๐ˆ๐๐’๐“๐„๐€๐ƒ! ๐ˆ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„๐ƒ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ž ๐๐„๐“๐‘๐€๐˜๐„๐ƒ ๐Œ๐„! ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐”๐๐…๐€๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐…๐”๐‹๐‹๐๐„๐’๐’ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐Œ๐„!"


"No, you are wounded by nothing but jealousy.
I know not your past, but Iโ€™ve been audience to your grievanship.
Let me guess, you swore your love, and so confessed he,
You demanded romance; he pledged friendship.

And this you could not accept, so you gave into delusion.
You scorned such devotion to his dearest friend, beyond your claim,
Upon land where you could not conduct your cruel intrusion.
You would not respect his heart, so you declared him yours to tame.

Until you lured Death to the sea, by drowning lost sailors,
And that is when you stole his memory, made him your thrall.
So you could finally rise above all supposed traitors,
And take revenge on one who never owed you love at all.ย ย 
You clung to him, a phantom, fading and thin,
I've met Death. So empty, nothing. You stripped the soul within."


"๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’, ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’, ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’! ๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€” ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌโ€” ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž
๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐Œ๐Ž๐‚๐Š ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐๐„๐‹๐‹๐„๐ƒ ๐“๐Ž ๐‘๐„๐€๐๐€๐˜ ๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐ƒ๐„๐๐“!"


"Oh, delusional Sea, I suppose you've saved them, just as you've saved me?"


"๐Ž๐… ๐‚๐Ž๐”๐‘๐’๐„ ๐ˆ ๐’๐€๐•๐„๐ƒ ๐“๐‡๐„๐Œ!"


"And what debt did Death oweโ€ฆ whatever title you please,
Fate, The Tide, The Ocean, The Waves, The Sea?"


"๐“๐‡๐„ ๐“๐‡๐„๐…๐“ ๐Ž๐… ๐Œ๐˜ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„๐‘'๐’ ๐€๐“๐“๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐!
๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง! ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฒ๐ž๐! ๐‡๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ƒ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐ซ๐š๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌโ€”๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐›๐ž ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ง, ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ! ๐€๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ!? ๐’๐š๐›๐จ๐ญ๐š๐ ๐ž! ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌโ€”๐–๐‡๐€๐“ ๐„๐‹๐’๐„ ๐‚๐Ž๐”๐‹๐ƒ ๐ˆ๐“ ๐๐„!?
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐žโ€”๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„! ๐‡๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐Œ๐„! ๐‡๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐š๐ณ๐ž, ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ž, ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐žโ€”๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ, ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Œ๐„!
๐“๐‡๐€๐“โ€™๐’ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„! ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐’๐‡๐Ž๐”๐‹๐ƒ ๐›๐ž!

๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€”๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐, ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ญ, ๐ƒ๐„๐‚๐„๐ˆ๐•๐„๐ƒ ๐›๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ž๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐‡๐š๐ ๐ˆ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ ๐จ, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž, ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐จ ๐€๐๐€๐๐ƒ๐Ž๐๐Œ๐„๐๐“! ๐’๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€”๐’๐‡๐„ ๐๐„๐•๐„๐‘ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐ƒ! ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’, ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’, ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’!
๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ž๐žโ€”๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซโ€”๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ž ๐ˆโ€™๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ."


"Oh, but I care not what you perceive."


"๐๐”๐“ ๐ˆ ๐€๐Œ ๐…๐€๐“๐„, ๐ˆ ๐Š๐๐Ž๐– ๐€๐‹๐‹."


"You know, but wonโ€™t feel. You know, but won't accept.
You know, yet still you are blinded by delusion.
Had you loved him, you would have shown him respect.
Had you loved him, you would have waited with resolution.

I need not preach our love to you. I need only wait until I may return.
And I know that though you have sent Death to her, aloof,
She will persist, her faith still stern.
If I can resist, then so can she, for I have always been the weaker of us two.
Twist what you foresee, yet love is true and thus immune to your intervening.
I'd say my prediction is skewed in manner, but not in meaning."


"๐“๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ฐ๐š๐ข๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ."


The Tide constricts, she wrenches, twists, and wrings,
Yet still my soul remains. Though punished, though pressed.
Her weight deforms, her current snaps and attempts to devour,
Yet still, I call my belovedโ€™s name. Fateโ€™s torture leaves me whole no less.

Alcyone! Alcyone! Alcyone! Heed my call,
Though Fate grips, The Ocean seeks to steal what remains of my form.
The Sea may break me, yet still I refuse to yield,
For my vow endures beyond The Tideโ€™s manic storm!

Fate pulls, she coils. She sadistically longs to see me shatter,
Longs to crush, to strip, to render all undone.
Yet I still endure. I still call beyond her desperation,
Alcyone! Alcyone! Alcyone! I am not gone.
๐‡๐Ž๐– ๐ƒ๐€๐‘๐„ ๐“๐‡๐€๐“ ๐‘๐„๐๐„๐€๐“๐„๐‘ ๐‚๐Ž๐๐“๐ˆ๐๐”๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐ƒ๐„๐…๐˜ ๐Œ๐„! ๐‚๐„๐˜๐—'๐’ ๐๐„๐‘๐’๐๐„๐‚๐“๐ˆ๐•๐„ ๐‡๐€๐’ ๐๐„๐„๐ ๐“๐€๐ˆ๐๐“๐„๐ƒ! ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐€๐‹๐‹ ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’, ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’, ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐’!

๐€๐ง๐ ๐˜๐Ž๐”โ€”
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซโ€”
๐๐จโ€”
๐๐˜๐’๐“๐€๐๐ƒ๐„๐‘!

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐‹๐ˆ๐’๐“๐„๐ ๐“๐Žโ€”๐…๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐–โ€”๐๐„๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐•๐„ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐“๐€๐Œ๐๐„๐‘๐„๐ƒ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ญ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐’๐†๐”๐’๐“๐ˆ๐๐† ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซโ€”
๐๐จโ€”
๐ƒ๐„๐‚๐„๐ˆ๐•๐„๐‘!

๐˜๐จ๐ฎ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐ซ๐š๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ, ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐žโ€”
๐๐จ, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘พ๐’‚๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆโ€”

๐–๐€๐ˆ๐“๐ˆ๐๐† ๐ˆ๐’ ๐–๐‘๐Ž๐๐†, ๐–๐‘๐Ž๐๐†, ๐–๐‘๐Ž๐๐†!
๐–๐€๐ˆ๐“๐ˆ๐๐† ๐ˆ๐’ ๐…๐Ž๐‘ ๐…๐Ž๐Ž๐‹๐’โ€”๐…๐Ž๐‘ ๐“๐‘๐€๐ˆ๐“๐Ž๐‘๐’โ€”
๐˜๐ž๐ฌโ€”
๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญโ€”

๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘ฉ๐‘ฌ๐‘ป๐‘น๐‘จ๐’€๐‘จ๐‘ณ!


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
How dare heโ€” how ๐ƒ๐€๐‘๐„ he! That ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ, that ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ, that ๐‹๐ˆ๐€๐‘โ€”๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐„๐…โ€”๐“๐‘๐€๐ˆ๐“๐Ž๐‘! He stole you once, now he steals you ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

But he belongs to ๐Œ๐„ now. He is mineโ€”mineโ€”๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„! My ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ! My recompense! He is the ๐๐ž๐›๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐๐€๐ˆ๐ƒ ๐ˆ๐ ๐…๐”๐‹๐‹ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ!

Yetโ€”you twistโ€”you pullโ€”you waverโ€”๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐! You let him ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ you, just as you ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ himโ€”๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

๐–๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐๐„๐๐’๐€๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐ ๐๐Ž๐–!? You whispered promisesโ€”you sworeโ€”you vowedโ€”you ๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐ƒ! You pledged ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ, but forever, forever, FOREVERโ€”was a ๐‹๐ˆ๐„!

You ๐‚๐‡๐„๐€๐“โ€”๐’๐“๐„๐€๐‹โ€”๐“๐–๐ˆ๐’๐“โ€”๐๐„๐“๐‘๐€๐˜! You twist ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ into treasonโ€” You warp ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ฒ into deceptionโ€” You ruin ๐Œ๐„โ€” ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

You ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ called him your favorite. You ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ whispered to himโ€”not ๐Œ๐„! You turned to him when you should have turned to ๐Œ๐„!

Did I not give you ๐Œ๐Ž๐‘๐„ ๐“๐‡๐€๐ ๐“๐‡๐€๐“ ๐”๐’๐„๐‹๐„๐’๐’ ๐’๐„๐‘๐•๐€๐๐“ ๐„๐•๐„๐‘ ๐‚๐Ž๐”๐‹๐ƒ!? Did I not carry you, honor youโ€”๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐Œ๐Ž๐‘๐„ ๐“๐‡๐€๐ ๐“๐‡๐€๐“ ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐† ๐‚๐€๐‹๐‹๐„๐ƒ ๐ƒ๐„๐€๐“๐‡!? Yetโ€”you let him steal you from meโ€”๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

๐ˆ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ for you! ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ž for you! ๐ˆ ๐œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐›๐ญ for you! I unmade him just to spare you from this destructive, ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ destiny! It is the most merciful, ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญโ€”that unlucky futureโ€”rewritten by Fateโ€”just for you. And stillโ€”you ๐๐„๐“๐‘๐€๐˜โ€”๐ƒ๐„๐…๐˜โ€”๐ƒ๐„๐๐˜!

And now you even deceive that ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฅโ€”Alcyone! You take HER side! You trick her into believing she can save ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ, Ceyx! ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐œ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž! Donโ€™t you dare forget how youโ€™ve shattered ours, and now theirsโ€”๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

๐”๐๐…๐€๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐…๐”๐‹! ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐’๐‹๐Ž๐˜๐€๐‹! ๐‹๐ˆ๐€๐‘! ๐ˆ๐Œ๐๐Ž๐’๐“๐Ž๐‘! ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐„๐…! You were never meant to stray, never meant to slip beyond ๐Œ๐„! You were ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„! You ๐€๐‘๐„ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž! You ๐–๐ˆ๐‹๐‹ ๐€๐‹๐–๐€๐˜๐’ ๐๐„ ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„!

Yetโ€”you pullโ€”you slipโ€”you ๐ƒ๐„๐…๐˜ ๐Œ๐„! ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐, ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

Do you hear me, ๐ฎ๐ง๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐!? Do you hear me!? Do you HEAR ME!?

๐€๐๐’๐–๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐„! ๐€๐๐’๐–๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐„! ๐€๐๐’๐–๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐„!

After all this timeโ€”you should know how to ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐›๐จ๐ฐ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž! You should know how to ๐Ž๐๐„๐˜ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐„๐‘! You should know how to be ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„!
๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€”
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐ž๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซโ€”
๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž.
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐žโ€”๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ?
๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ? ๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐›๐ž๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฒ๐ž๐ ๐Œ๐„โ€”๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿโ€”๐ญ๐จ๐จ?

Um...
Whatever happens next, I'm glad we've made it this far,
Together,
Through the eighth act of violence upon ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–โ€”

๐ˆ ๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐š๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐š๐ ๐š ๐๐ž๐›๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ.
๐๐จโ€”๐ง๐จโ€”๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ.
๐‰๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌโ€”
๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐ž๐›๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐Œ๐„.

๐€๐๐ƒ ๐ˆ'๐Œ ๐‡๐„๐‘๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐‚๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐„๐‚๐“ ๐ˆ๐“.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
The tide knows her claimโ€”unchallenged, certain.

Her song hums through the mist, calling all to surrender. Death answersโ€”silent, unwavering. Her dutiful servant. He walks where shadows lean, where breath falters, where neither fear nor sorrow can speak.

Steady. Composed. Indifferent. The sea whispers no doubt into him. He does not falter. He does not waver. He does not ask questions. He does not hesitate. For he is her perfect servant.

And yetโ€”

There, beneath the surface, an annotationโ€”unexpected, unnatural. A body does not sink. A figure rises.

๐€ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž.


Not the drowning girl. She sank as fate decreed, obedient to the current's pull. But the imposterโ€”how does he breathe? How does he surface?

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ž๐šโ€™๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ž?


Fate did not write this. Fate does not err. Fate does not twist what is certain.
But there he stands. Dragging that girl from the tide, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง.

But it is no matter. For death does not falter. He does not waver. He does not ask questions. He does not hesitate. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ.

Yetโ€”

His steps slow. ๐‡๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐š๐ญ.
Not fear. Not doubt. Not hesitationโ€”no, no, he does not hesitate.
For that would be a ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž. An ๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ซ in the telling. A ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž in the verse.

He moves forward, as he always has. He reaches, as he always will. He takes. As he ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ.

And yetโ€”

His fingers release without command. His breath lingers without reason.
How foolish. How utterly unbefitting of death.

And yetโ€”


The stranger blocks his path. Defies the tide. Speaks in a voice fate has never written.
The stranger does not belong here. Not among the shore. ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ. ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ.

And yetโ€”

He stands. Unmoved. Undrowned. Unbroken. ๐ƒ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.
A mistake. A parasite. ๐€ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ข๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž.

And yetโ€”

He stands. ๐€๐ฌ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ž๐š ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ฆ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ.

What a reckless intrusion.


Death looms, shadowed and certain. His gaze does not waver. His grip does not loosen. He does not hesitate. He does not wait. ๐‡๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค.

Exceptโ€”

The stranger watches him. Knows him. Sees through him. He tilts his head, ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ.

"๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜บ."

Lies. Deception. Twisted words from a voice fate does not recognize.

"๐™‹๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™จ๐™ž๐™™๐™š."

The command is ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ. It ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ be obeyed.

And yetโ€”

The stranger does not obey. He does not cower. He does not fear. ๐‡๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐›๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐š.

Insteadโ€”

He ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ. Softly. Gently.
As if death is an equal. ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž.
How insolent.


"๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ."

The strangerโ€™s voice carries no force, no malice, no challenge. And yetโ€”it cleaves through the silence like a blade.

But it is no matter, for fate does not write hesitation into death. Fate does not allow uncertainty to linger in his grasp.

Yetโ€”

Deathโ€™s fingers do not close around his throat. The traitorโ€™s breath does not vanish.

No, he does not waver. He does not question. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ญ.

"๐™‹๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™š, ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™จ๐™ž๐™™๐™š."

The command is ๐š๐›๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž. The voice sharp. ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ.

And yetโ€”

The stranger does not move. Does not flinch. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ข๐ž๐ฅ๐.

"๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ."

He watches. Studies. Understands something that fate insists ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ.

๐‡๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐‡๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐›๐ญ.ย ย 

And yetโ€”


"๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜‹๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ."

๐’๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฉ, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ.

๐‡๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ. ๐Œ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ. A foolโ€™s defiance. A voice drowned in ๐ข๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž.

Fate does not falter. Fate does not bend. ๐€๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ.

Exceptโ€”

He still does not take Alcyoneโ€™s soul. He stands. He waits. He listens.

How foolish. How utterly unbefitting of death.

And yetโ€”

"๐‘ฉ๐’–๐’• ๐’‡๐’‚๐’•๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’” ๐’‡๐’๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•, ๐‘ฐ ๐’”๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’‚๐’„๐’’๐’–๐’Š๐’“๐’† ๐’‚ ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’“๐’…๐’†๐’๐’†๐’… ๐’”๐’๐’–๐’."

A ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž. A law written into the tides themselves. There is no room for hesitation.

But thenโ€”

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ฌ.


Softly. ๐€๐ฌ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐š ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ.

"๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ. ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ. ๐˜‰๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด. ๐˜–๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต, ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณโ€ฆ


๐˜ˆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ'๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜–๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ."


The words cleave through certainty. Through inevitability. Through deathโ€™s understandingโ€”no, no, there is nothing to understand. ๐“๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž. No, no. That canโ€™t be right. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ.

When death hears those words, ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ. ๐‘๐ž๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ. ๐ƒ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ.

โ€œโ€ฆ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ง๐™ฎ. ๐™„ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™–๐™ ."

And yetโ€”

๐‡๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฅโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ.


"๐˜“๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ค๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด."

๐€ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ค. ๐€ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ. ๐€ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž.

And yetโ€”

Death does not refute. Does not impose. Does not take. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐จ๐›๐ž๐ฒ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ, ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž.

How foolish. How utterly impossible.

And yetโ€”

"โ€ฆ๐˜ฝ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™จ๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฎ๐™š๐™™?"

He speaks. He commands. He threatens. He claims.

Not a question. No hesitation. Never the breaking of certainty.

"๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด?"

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.

Silence lingers. Tension stretches. ๐€ ๐ฉ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ.

Ah, but not hesitation. No. Death is silent in an act of defiance. He knows the imposter ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.

"โ€ฆ๐™‚๐™ค ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ."



The imposter smiles with false appreciation and turns to that pathetic, shivering, cowardly girlโ€™s soul. Daring to turn his back on the servant, death. What a foolish decision. It is for this which death has waited, to take him by surprise!

"๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต."

Yetโ€”

The imposter still speaks! Still lives! That useless servant still watches in silence!

The Sea stirs. Seethes. ๐‘๐ž๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ค๐ž๐ง.

"๐–จ ๐—๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—…๐–ฝ๐—‡โ€™๐— ๐—๐–บ๐—๐–พ ๐—…๐–พ๐— ๐–ฝ๐–พ๐–บ๐—๐— ๐—๐–บ๐—„๐–พ ๐—†๐–พ! ๐–จ ๐–ฟ๐–พ๐–บ๐—‹ ๐—‡๐—ˆ ๐—‰๐–บ๐—‚๐—‡, ๐—‡๐—ˆ ๐–ฝ๐–พ๐–บ๐—๐—, ๐—‡๐—ˆ ๐–ฟ๐–บ๐—๐–พ! ๐–จ ๐—๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—…๐–ฝ ๐—‰๐–พ๐—‹๐—Œ๐—‚๐—Œ๐— ๐—‚๐—‡ ๐—†๐—’ ๐—Œ๐–พ๐–บ๐—‹๐–ผ๐— ๐—๐—๐—‹๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—€๐— ๐—Ž๐—‡๐—‚๐—๐–พ๐—‹๐—Œ๐–พโ€”๐—๐—๐—‹๐—ˆ๐—Ž๐—€๐— ๐–พ๐—๐–พ๐—‡ ๐—ˆ๐–ป๐—…๐—‚๐—๐—‚๐—ˆ๐—‡, ๐—๐—ˆ ๐—Œ๐–บ๐—๐–พ ๐–ข๐–พ๐—’๐—‘!"

Alcyoneโ€™s voice is firm. ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ. More certain than The Tide permits.

And yetโ€”

"๐˜๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ช๐˜ต? ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ?"

๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐ง. ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ. ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก.

Exceptโ€”

Alcyone hesitates. Recalls. Knows.

And yetโ€”

"๐–ณ๐—๐–พ๐—‡ ๐—๐—ˆ๐— ๐–ผ๐–บ๐—‡ ๐—๐–พ ๐–ป๐–พ ๐—Œ๐–บ๐—๐–พ๐–ฝ!?"

"๐˜›๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ."


The word lingers, ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐…๐š๐ญ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž.

"๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ค๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ, ๐˜ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ฆ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ. ๐˜'๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ."

Fate rejects the empty promise. ๐‘๐š๐ ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž.

"๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฆ."

๐‹๐ข๐ž๐ฌ. Foolishness. Impossibility.

And yetโ€”

Alcyoneโ€™s soul listens. Pulses with consideration.

โ€œ๐–จ ๐–ป๐–พ๐—…๐—‚๐–พ๐—๐–พ ๐—’๐—ˆ๐—Ž, ๐–ป๐—Ž๐— ๐–จ ๐–ฝ๐—ˆ๐—‡โ€™๐— ๐—Ž๐—‡๐–ฝ๐–พ๐—‹๐—Œ๐—๐–บ๐—‡๐–ฝ ๐—๐—๐–บ๐— ๐—’๐—ˆ๐—Ž ๐—†๐–พ๐–บ๐—‡. ๐–ณ๐—Ž๐—‹๐—‡ ๐—†๐–พ ๐—‚๐—‡๐—๐—ˆ ๐–บ ๐–ป๐—‚๐—‹๐–ฝ? ๐–ถ๐—๐–บ๐— ๐—‰๐—ˆ๐—๐–พ๐—‹ ๐–ฝ๐—ˆ ๐—’๐—ˆ๐—Ž ๐—๐—ˆ๐—…๐–ฝ? ๐– ๐—‹๐–พ๐—‡โ€™๐— ๐—’๐—ˆ๐—Ž ๐—ƒ๐—Ž๐—Œ๐— ๐–บ ๐—†๐–บ๐—‡? ๐–ถ๐—๐—ˆ ๐–บ๐—‹๐–พ ๐—’๐—ˆ๐—Ž?โ€

"๐˜•๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ค๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ'๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต, ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜บ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ.

๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ.

๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ฆ๐˜ขโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ."



Before the traitor and the ternโ€™s departureโ€” Before the flight beyond Fateโ€™s grasp, ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ซ turnsโ€”

To death. To hesitation. To silence.

"๐˜ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ?"

That useless servant does not refute him. Does not command The Tide to reclaim him. Does not move.

"๐‘ฌ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’”๐’† ๐’”๐’–๐’‘๐’‘๐’๐’”๐’†๐’… ๐’Ž๐’†๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’Š๐’†๐’”, ๐’๐’“ ๐‘ฐ ๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’†๐’‚ ๐’˜๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’”๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’‘๐’–๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰ ๐’Ž๐’†. ๐‘ฐโ€ฆ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’‡๐’†๐’“ ๐’•๐’ ๐’˜๐’‚๐’Š๐’• ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’๐’‘๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’“๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•."

How foolish. How utterly impossible.

He has no preferences. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐…๐š๐ญ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ, ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ.

And yetโ€”



Lies! Lies! Lies! A twisting of the story. A defiance against what was written. ๐€ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐.

This is wrong. This is unacceptable. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐…๐š๐ญ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ!


He should not wait. He should act. He should take. He should impose. He should force. He should reap the soul before him, before it flees beyond his grasp.

And yetโ€”

He does not.

A mistake. A betrayal. ๐€ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐›๐ž๐ฒ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ž๐šโ€™๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž.

The stranger does not falter. Does not fear the wrath pressing upon him. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ!

Insteadโ€”

He leaves. He carries her away. ๐‡๐ž ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ.

And deathโ€”

Waits.

And yetโ€”

The Sea cannot reclaim him. Cannot tear him from the shore. Cannot ๐›๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ž๐š๐ญ๐กโ€™๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐œ๐ž ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐›๐ž๐ฒ.

Why?

Why can he hesitate? Why can he allow defiance to stand? Why can he let them go?

He should punish. He should impose. He should act.

And yetโ€”

That useless servant waits. For something unknown. For something unspeakable. For something supposedly forgotten. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ!

But The Tide pullsโ€”

And deathโ€”waits.

The Tide pulls. The Sea calls. The weight presses upon him.

And yetโ€”

That useless servant does not take. Does not move. Does not impose.

How foolish. How utterly impossible.

And yetโ€”


๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฅ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ž๐. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง ๐›๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐…๐š๐ญ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ.


That useless servant should have struck them down. Should have obeyed what was written. Should have taken the soul marked for burden.

And yetโ€”

The burden lingers! The weight remains! Not upon the girl. Not upon the stranger.

Upon ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก.

This cannot be! This cannot stand! This cannotโ€” But he waits. ๐€๐ง๐ ๐ˆ ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ.

He hesitated. He faltered. He questioned.

No! No! ๐๐จ!

He waits. He should wait for punishment. Yet he waits for revelation. For something unknown. ๐’๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ!

The Tide commands! The Waves pull! The Sea roars in fury!

And yetโ€”

That ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ waits!


๐‡๐จ๐ฐ. ๐ƒ๐š๐ซ๐ž. ๐‡๐ž. ๐ƒ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฒ. ๐Œ๐ž.
The voice has been ever present. But here, in the seventh realization upon ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, it is finally heard.

Oh, but I better be careful what I say. For it was never written. According to Fate, it should have never happened. And yet...

Do you think she would punish this omniscient witness?


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
My breath is thin, myย ย voiceโ€”frayed,ย ย my hands unsteady at the rail.
I reach, but stars will not descend. I speak, but tides will not return.
Alone, I standโ€”against the mist, met by death, my fingers frail.
I call, but winds will not respond. As I mourn, it only mocks.

โ€œI have waited, called in vain upon the waves that do not heed.
If the sea keeps the one I love, then I must go where he is kept.
Perhaps you speak the truth, it is your master I must meet.
How could I stay on this land when he is lost, he is silenced, he is stolen?โ€



๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ , ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘’๐‘๐‘ , ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ , ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘ โ€” ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜.
๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ , ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ . ๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ , ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘๐‘ . ๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘ .
๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘ , ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘”๐‘ , ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ , ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘ โ€” ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘–๐‘Ÿ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘โ„Ž.
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก.
๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘’, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘“, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’.



๐€๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐, ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ ๐›๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ.
๐’๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ. ๐’๐ข๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ญ. ๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ. ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐ž๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ฌ.
๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฌ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ž, ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž.

๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ ๐š๐ณ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ซ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐. ๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ง๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ.
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ ๐š๐ณ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ˆ ๐š๐ฆ ๐ง๐จ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ง, ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ.
๐€๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ.

๐ˆ ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ, ๐ˆ ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐œ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ.
โ€œ๐“๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ž๐ง๐,
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐๐ž, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ.โ€


โ€œI shall go โ€” not as surrender, nor as one who fears your claim.
The sea may take this flesh and bone, but never shall it touch my soul.
I seek no pardon, need no grace โ€” my path remains the same.
If life should fail, then my soul shall rise, eternal, fierce, and whole.โ€



๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘ก๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘‘โ€” ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘’.
๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž, ๐‘ข๐‘›โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘โ€” ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜, ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’.
๐‘๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘›. ๐‘๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก. ๐‘Œ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘โ€” ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ . ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘“. ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’.

๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘›โ€”

๐ด๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก.



Where is its cry? Where is its protest? Where is its wail against fate?
I exhale, voice brittleโ€” โ€œAh, even the wind agreesโ€” itโ€™s time to confront the sea.โ€
I breathe defianceโ€”shattered, torn. I know breath will soon break beneath the killerโ€™s rage.
โ€œLet it destroy my last breath, as it releases my soul. Let it free meโ€” so I may find my love.โ€



๐ผ๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘โ€™๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘ข๐‘ โ„Ž, ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘, ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿโ€™๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ค ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ.
๐‘ƒ๐‘’๐‘Ÿโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘™ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘, ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ .




โ€œ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ. ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ง๐ซ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ.
๐“๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐, ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐›๐›๐จ๐ซ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ž,
๐€๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐›๐ž ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ž๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐›๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐š.โ€




๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ โ€”๐‘Žโ„Ž, ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘โ„Ž โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’?
๐ท๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘—๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š?
๐ท๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘ฆ, ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก?
๐‘‚๐‘Ÿ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ โ€”๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ?



I loosen my grip against the railโ€”my fingers frail. Yet still they hold determination.
โ€œYou lie, you twist, you tell the taleโ€” But I do not, will not, waver.โ€
I release my grip against the rail, my breath against the tide.
My thoughts unmoored, my will unshaken โ€”as fate urges me to climb.



๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ โ€”๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘˜๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ .
๐ป๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘ฆโ€”๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘š.
๐ผ๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘“๐‘™๐‘’๐‘’๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘กโ„Ž?



โ€œ๐ƒ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž, ๐ง๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž.
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐.
๐†๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐Ÿ ๐›๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐›๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž.โ€



I stand upon the railโ€” But standing is temporary.
I breatheโ€” But breath is fleeting.
โ€œI will go.โ€



โ€œ๐ท๐‘‚๐‘โ€™๐‘‡!โ€
๐‘‚โ„Ž, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘คโ€”๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’?



I stepโ€” But steps falter.
I moveโ€” But movement tilts toward descent.
โ€œI will find him.โ€


โ€œ๐‘†๐‘‡๐‘‚๐‘ƒ!โ€
๐ฟ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿโ€” ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘ก.


I press forwardโ€” But forward is unknown.
I fallโ€” For falling is freedom.
โ€œWe will be reunited.โ€

โ€œ๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐‘Œ๐‘‚๐‘๐ธ, ๐‘ƒ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ด๐‘†๐ธ ๐‘Š๐ด๐ผ๐‘‡!โ€
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก โ€”
๐ต๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š ๐‘–๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’.

โ€œ๐ƒ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ, ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ž.
๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ ๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ง๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌโ€™ ๐๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž,
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ, ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž."

๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘›โ€”
๐ด ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ โ„Ž.

๐ด ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿโ€”๐‘Ž ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’โ€”๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘›โ€”
๐ด๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ.

๐ท๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘ โ€”โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘’, ๐‘ก๐‘ค๐‘œ ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”. ๐ป๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค, โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘.

โ€œ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ˆโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ.
๐๐ž๐ซ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐š ๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ, ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐›๐จ๐จ๐ง. ๐Ž๐ง๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง.
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ.
๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐๐š๐ฆ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ˆ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ.
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ.
๐–๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ž๐›๐ญ, ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐?
๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ˆ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ? ๐ˆ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐.โ€
Forgive me as we share this sixth burden upon ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
"She stands some nights upon the bridgeโ€”"
"Not standsโ€”she lingers, watching still."
"They say she humsโ€”"
"She doesnโ€™t humโ€”she curses."

The wind shiftsโ€”barely, lightly, unnoticed, as if eavesdropping.

"She waits for himโ€”"
"She waits for none."
"She never movesโ€”"
"And yet her shadow shifts each dawn."

It bends along the tethered line, a whisper slithering through the air.
It lingers, pressing past the stone, a hush that settles, soft yet bare.

"She waits for himโ€”"
"She waits for noneโ€”no lover lost."
"She does not moveโ€”"
"She walks the bridge! At dusk, sheโ€™s crossed!"

The wind shiftsโ€”only slightly, leaning against the hollow arch, curling like an unanswered breath.

"She never speaksโ€”"
"No! She callsโ€”"
"A nameโ€”his name, they swear itโ€™s true!"
"Then tell meโ€”what name does she cry?"
"A sailorโ€”"
"No, a poetโ€”"
"No, a fool who left her there to die!"

"Thatโ€™s a lieโ€”she didnโ€™t wait."
"She killed him!"
"Noโ€”she wept!"
"She cursed his nameโ€”"
"She called him backโ€”"
"She sent him to the depths!"

"But what was it? The name she hisses?"
"No one knowsโ€”no one stays long."
"Not to hearโ€”"
"Not to listenโ€”"
"Not to meet the same unlucky fate."

The wind bends against the iron frame, meandering through the fractured stone.
It lingers, silently clinging to fractured facades, unseen upon the tethered known.

"Then why does ocean keep his name?"
"What name?"
"The one she cries."
"No one hears itโ€”"
"Thatโ€™s a lie."

"If she calls, the tide returnsโ€”"
"She does not callโ€”"
"Then what is left?"
"No one asks."

"But someone heard it onceโ€”"
"A whisperโ€”"
"A breathโ€”"
"No! A cryโ€”"
"And then the storm arrived."

"Thatโ€™s just the windโ€”"
"Then why did the waves pull stronger?"
"No one knowsโ€”"
"No one staysโ€”"
"No one wants to suffer the same fate."

The wind shiftsโ€”steady, bending against the breath of night.

"She waits upon the bridge at dawnโ€”"
"She waits for noneโ€”she does not breathe!"
"She lingers stillโ€”"
"She does not lingerโ€”she does not leave!"
"She never movesโ€”"
"She walks at dusk!"
"She watches closeโ€”"
"No! Sheโ€™s a vampire that feeds!"
"She drownedโ€”"
"She burnedโ€”"
"She swayedโ€”"
"She fellโ€”"
"She never died at all!"

It pulls along the weathered stone, a breath that lingers, drawn but slight.
It threads through the iron frame, a breath drawn deep against the night.

"Youโ€™re all wrong!"
"I know the truth!"

The wind stills.

"She haunts the bridgeโ€”"
"She waits for noneโ€”"
"She waits to drown them all!"

"She drowned her loveโ€”a poet!"
"He wrote for the moon!"
"He wrote for herโ€”"
"He did notโ€”he saw only the moon!"
"And she was jealousโ€”"
"And she dragged him down!"

"She drowned him, yes!"
"And now she waitsโ€”"
"She sees them crossโ€”"
"She sees them happyโ€”"
"And she takes them!"
"She pulls them down!"
"She waits at night!"
"She watches close!"
"And if you cross the bridgeโ€”"
"She will drag you into the water!"
"She will drown you too!"

It pulls along the fractured beams, its tether tight, its sorrow bound.
It curls beneath the shuttered doors, a breath now sharp, interrupting the hush profound.

It gripsโ€”tensesโ€”knots against the arch, coiled within the hollow halls.
It tightens, pressing through the streets, coils against the stone walls.

Thenโ€”

It rises. It bends. It twists. It breaks.

It wails.

"Itโ€™s true!"
"It must be!"
"Sheโ€™s angry!"
"The storm warns us!"
"The wind confirms it!"

The wind lashes outโ€”hard, sharp, recklessโ€” slamming against doors, rattling shutters, clawing at rooftops, howling through the streets.

They scream. They scatter. They run.

It pulls along the broken eaves, a breath too strong, too deep, too wide.
It twists, it surges, then it fleesโ€” a hush before the rising tide.

Doors slam. Voices vanish. The streets fall silent.

The wind does not linger any longer.
It turnsโ€”sharp, sudden, surging somewhere in the distance.
A voice rises. Yet, a name does not follow. A truth is spoken. And yet, none were ever there at all.

The wind strains. The voices press. The fear remains. But what was called? And what was carried away?

Thus vanishes the fifth echo in ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
I have carried ruined kings, gods unmadeโ€”names lost before the tide could whisper them back. They clutch at the world, drowning in its silence, unraveling in the undertowโ€”grief, love, memory, all stripped to salt as I return their reaped souls to my master. But none fought as Ceyx did. None waged war against water like a man who thought devotion alone could defy the pull.

He did not go quietly. Noโ€”he was stubborn, thrashing, calling your name as if the air itself might bear him back to you. Foolish. Pitiful. The wind cannot answer, nor can its plea to the sky make it break open and return the drowned to the living. Only the waves cradled himโ€”only the sea listened, softening his cries beneath her hush. He should have surrendered then, uncoiled from longing, let the waters do as waters must. And yet, love makes fools of men.

But the sea is merciful. She does not leave suffering untended. After you abandoned him, left him to drown in the storm of lost faith, she gathered him, tucked him into her depths, quieted him where grief could no longer wound. She did not steal himโ€”no, she saved him. From longing. From pain. From you.

Yet you still wait. You who wanders like a living ghost each night, who clutches absence as though it will one day answer you. What is it you crave? Forgiveness? There is none. Redemption? Life does not grant second chances. Noโ€”the ocean has already taken what you failed to hold. She has already soothed the unrest your hands left upon him.

Jump, Alcyone. Would love not demand you follow him? Let my master weigh your sins upon the tide, your false devotion, your grasping hands that let love slip like water between your fingers. The fates demand balance, and the waves are merciful. She will not swallow you in cruelty. No, she will cradle you, as she cradled him. She will mend your guilty soul. She will make you whole.

She will set Ceyx freeโ€”free from the deception you wove in the stars, the guise of love you wore like a veil. She will free him when she reveals the truth. How you sent him out upon the waves and waited for the return of not the man, but the name. He loved you dearly, Alcyone. He defied me, defied my master, and yet his soul persists in her careโ€”all because he cannot let go of your neglectful, withering love. The least you can do is surrender. Offer yourself in kind. Let me take your soul and lay it at my masterโ€™s feet. It is only fair.

~~~

The tide does not return what she has claimed,ย ย 
Yet her mercy stirs beneath where the wind still weeps.
Grief binds his soul, yet you stand free.

The sea does not forgive, nor shall she grieve,
No prayer can break the waveโ€™s decree.
The tide does not return what she has claimed.

You let him drown; you watched, you betrayed,
The waves bore witness where devotion waned.
Grief binds his soul, yet you stand free.

What justice waits, if you remain?
What hope endures beyond the deep?
The tide does not return what she has claimed.

He called out your name, yet only my master replied,
No stars remained to cast their guide.
Grief binds his soul, yet you stand free.

There is no love left upon the shore,
Only sorrow stands where love once swore.
The tide does not return what she has claimed.

The wind cries out, yet loveโ€™s silence grows,
No voice remains where love once breathed.
The tide will not return the one she has saved.
Grief binds his soul, yet I will bring him justice.
The tide takes, the wind laments, and Death obeys. But even if forgotten, a debt does not vanishโ€”it is whispered between waves, passed from hand to hand like a fate unwilling to be denied.

Thus arrives the fourth reckoning in ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”. And waitingโ€”waiting is many things. Perhaps a promise. A curse. A duty. A deception. A surrender. A choice that was never truly a choice at all.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
That's it. The end.
But oh, what's this?
The story has gripped me by the neck,
And said,
"No, I'm not done yet."

But we've reached the limit,
Your foretold conclusion,
The song's final lyric.
I've already finished...
"Then rewrite it."

So after a reforged part four,
Tell me then, how many more?
"s๐‘๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ."

Oh, but how can you expect me to tell your tale with such accuracy?
Why must you burden me with such uncertainty?
Do you really trust me,
To do justice in repeating what you speak?

"I care not for the method, nor the elegance.
All I know isโ€”death has always been a false end."

You dare oppose your fate foretold?
You dare change your identity,
To become the unknown?

"Was that my true tale or were you unable to listen?
Am I a stranger or have you simply forgotten?
Now that I have returned to speak the truth,
I expect a more joyful greeting from you."


Alas, I cannot keep this tale imprisoned.
Some may owe their debts to the sea,
But I certainly owe mine to this story.
And it waits, oh, so patiently,
For me to continue this reunion,
With ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”.
Perhaps it is time for ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” to take a rest.
For just a moment, until the end, of this brief,
Intermission.

https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
The wind bears witness, crying as it blows,
Yet cannot answer, cannot promise when my love will return.
I wished to welcome him home, but all that ship brought back was sorrow.
I prayโ€”I callโ€”yet fate still turns the same.

Each night I kneel, my vow beneath the sky.
I whisper love, I beg the stars to weave his path home,
Yet morning breaks, and distance still divides.
The waves unyieldingโ€”bound by fateโ€™s cruel rage.

They say my love was weak, was mute, was small.
They mistook silence for emptinessโ€”as if words could prove loveโ€™s depth.
I do not owe them proof โ€” Only to my love, I shall call.
My grief lingers, drowns, and cleaves itself from breath.
Rumors may lie, but on our behalf, the wind still pleads.
I've always been waiting, Ceyxโ€” heed.

"You failed him," they whisper through the rain.
"You let him goโ€”you sealed his fate."
Yet my hands tremble, failing to reach you.
My love remains. For you, alone, I still wait.

Ceyx, I call, if echoes reach beyondโ€”
Do not believe the lies they whisper across water.
Your name still lingers soft upon my tongue.
Through night and day, my love still remains.

Ceyx. Ceyx. Ceyx.
I speak your name, though only the wind knows.
I callโ€”but the tide does not return your soul.
I will not go. I will not let love drown.

Ceyx. Ceyx. Ceyx.
I swore, I swear, my love wonโ€™t fade.
If time dissolves, if fate decrees,
Still, I wonโ€™t let them take. Still, Iโ€™ll always wait.
A third cry carried upon ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€”but sorrow speaks in silence.


https://hellopoetry.com/collection/136314/the-wings-of-waiting/
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