‘Once upon a time’ -
that’s not the first line
not the start of this plot
it’s not where we start

no smart-talking mirror
no scheming stepmother
no frog in a pond
no magical wand

‘In the beginning’
and again
‘In the beginning’
That’s the story we’ve got -
us and our God

A ghost pushed me down the steps.
Naked I fell.
On my way to quench my thirst with grape juice.
What a silly thing to do in the middle of the night.
And now my neck shattered, femur pushed through broken skin.
A helicopter en-route to save my life.
And yet, somehow…
I’m still trying to calm everyone else.

Mid-sentence: this story can go either way,
Doom and gloom, or full of joy.
Hold your nerve, believe in happy endings,
There’s a bigger story; written from a far but lived out day-to-day.

Come flower child,
Join the rest,
In the autumn fields abloom.

Come flower child,
Join the patch,
In the rolling hills of autumn.

Come flower child,
Lay to rest,
Just like all the others.
Who came to the autumn fields,
Lined with stones.

Two heavenly hands hold hues of their own
A hell in the night we live all alone
The greater and the lesser light will see
She here with her one and he with his three
He sleeps and wakes up to discover names
The unfortunate truths of life are blamed
When they choose to allow her to have this
Cathar reveals itself, tetractys
A maiden resides and is instead shown
Not pen, but pencil to see The Lupeon

Mencius, what is that they're doing?

Zhǐ! Another immortal walked from the sea;
Leaf & cordage finely chopped,
Throughly masticated & combined,
Left to the air to then reside
And collected after dried.
How most strange & curious!

You say the nobility call this parchment,
But for humor as irony
And because of the sound made
During the process of hammering,
The craftsmen call it paper?
And, like with tattoos,
They use pastes & fluids like dyes & resins
To stain drawings, shapes, and characters?

The lesser the weight of tablets,
Well-traveled with, easily read & clearly,
Markable with ease; readily inviting change
After change, reflecting our fragileness & resilience, offering record of our thoughts & accomplishments, a chance for the more prolific scribe and the library diverser & denser?

How wonderous a creation,
How gifted the craftsmen,
How genius the inventors.


Wow. That was so long ago
Before I was born.
But then compared to much else,
This fledgling has yet to have flown
From the small enclaves it nests as home.

Into the veil of the night, the young wizard had to reconnaissance that of which hunted them.  

With careful steps, the young wizard moved through the night toward the cracking of twigs.  He then felt a stone near his left foot as it had parked down from a quiet march forward.  He then lifted the stone and tossed it in a westerly direction toward the denser side of the forest. The stone did its job well, creating noises of false escapes. The hunter then revealed itself, trying to chase the noise down.  The young wizard then returned to camp.

Alston waited back at camp with the empowered frost and flame sword, ready to fight and doubting himself all at once.  The young wizard returned with a slight concern on his face, which Alston had not yet seen in his new friend.  They whispered in the dead night.

" It's a shadow mantis, a very large one.  Something is strange about it.  It does not look natural, nor does it want to hunt for small prey. It must stand at least 6-7 feet high.  We have to go for the head.  I will distract it with my staff. There is an invocation of light that I will use to draw it near me. It will be fixated on my light for a short moment until it realizes that I am holding the light. In that time, I need for you to do your wild swings on its legs from behind. As the shadow mantis falls, strike the head as hard as you can. Remember, I have invoked your blade with immense power. Trust in yourself and then trust in the blade. There is no time.  Ready yourself, Alston."

Alston readied himself with so many questions he wanted to ask the young wizard as well as himself. But the questions never came, nor did he know what to ask.  He then saw the young wizard walk forth holding his staff upright. " Luminis Sados."  The young wizards staff burn brightly in the night.  Like a small sunrise in the dark forest. Alston then heard the nightmarish scamper of the very large shadow mantis.  It stood over the young wizard with gleaming yellow eyes as it was in a small trance looking into the light. Alston knew it was time.  He gripped the enchanted sword with both hands and closed his eyes. He called courage and bravery from all places, but none of them answered. He then opened his eyes and saw his boys sleeping behind the young wizard. Courage then called, and Alston came in swinging at the legs of the entranced shadow mantis. With war screams or fear screams, Alston swung his blade. The blade gleamed white with frost, then red with fire as Alston swung the blade widely.   Burning and shattering the hind legs of the shadow mantis it fell on its side, screeching and unholy voice through the forest. Alston then spun around swinging the blade true through the head of the shadow mantis.  The screeching stopped, and black blood poured out of the headless body of the shadow mantis.