War; absolute This will be my macadam into re-assemblage For if I'm not on edge, I'm taking up too much precious space What wickedness lies beneath the surface of the skin? I should know this place better than anyone But my landscape has become mercurial Ever changing, impossible to map I am forced to navigate its pitfalls in ever complicating ways It has become a desolate place I alone should rule here, my sovereignty unquestioned Yet I've become content to be complacent, and have allowed a sickly intruder to slip past my walls They infect, demoralize: turn my skin to stone They must be expunged; cut out, snipped from the healthy flesh like a cancer As one removes a gangrenous foot to save the leg Though my tools at the moment are blunt, I sharpen them daily with the whetstone afforded to me They will not continue to expel bile into the bloodstream for long My strength returns by the hour They know this, and they tremble I am the goddess to whom this altar is devoted I am righteous fury, come to cleanse this blight with holy fire and flood The war drums sound as the gate is lifted