Once the world was whole.
Where my brother began,
Once my brother the soul,
Once my brother was whole.
When the world began.

Then.
Is fragmented. It
And shattered.
And

I look into each spinning shard,
Into myself and my loves,
Terrified of how they fall
Of how
Space will swallow them all.

The collapsing futures—
A tornado of sound,
Deafening the screams
Of the whole world,
The old world.

I seek the nexus.

I find you sometimes.
(Where you reside)
Where you are chained.
Where you are locked.
Where your mind slides.

Every lunge you make for escape,
Every rage filled step into space,
Smashes fragmented futures into
Further disfigured shapes.
I beg you:
“Stop.”
And you say like God:
“I have it all under control.”

But you are crying.
Do you see (I think you see)
You are lying.

And I have nowhere to go
But gone.

I emerge bearing a piece of your burden
Like
A brain in barbed wire, or
A flame cupped from your fire;
Or maybe just
The piece that is mine to keep.