Forgotten Dreams

A sickly child awakens in
a land of grey light,
where withered leaves
do not crumble underfoot but fade, like a field of
bloated dreams
that sway and undulate in
the dead winds of the mind
until they are forgotten for

a thousand years and more the day has been devoured by
a many-winged beast that wears the night as its face.
It reaches out with shadowed arms
and he flees the embrace, but

the old man is not afraid.
(there is another who watches in the silence, and it is that presence he fears.
as he runs, he feels its gaze.
it is vast and ancient and cruel and)


in a barren province
the concubine is exalted
by a towering emperor whose eyes are
the cold flames of the stars above,
seated on their ebony thrones. Judgment
is draped across their shoulders,
annihilation the crown resting upon their brow.

She looks into the heart of this giant
(and witnesses a
a soul made pliant by reptilian forces,
serpents that slither into the crevices of order and
copulate, breeding anarchy. chaos
writhes
in that tight space, bound by thick walls
that swallow all
sound, just like they have swallowed countless other
voices and blood and secrets.)





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