Fragments
1 StoneCage Heart
Lock down the heart,
Sealed in a cold stone cage.
Fully enclosed, airtight and waterproof,
Never open again, never feel the shame.
Seed within
The seed of strife,
Locked in as well,
A touch of insanity,
Airtight and waterproof,
Locked in the stone cage.
In the smile, the eyes,
The madness burns,
Straight from the heart
and into the head.
It will never escape,
It keeps us alive.
2 HorrorLion Ekphrasis
The face; eyes wide open,
Stare past your defenses;
I've mastered my own, and they're all the same,
So I'll step past yours; did you think you were safe?
The eyes, wide open;
Tears run down off the face.
The image; frozen, it's trapped;
He looks at you, as if
You could have helped
Blood runs from the knuckles and throat,
Flooding the edges, pooling the collar socket.
Oh you didn't notice? Below,
From the heart, a bore-hole,
As if some giant conical drill,
Cut deep into the chest;
But only one half,
The other is safe,
Safe for now,
Safe from you.
Blood doesn't run from the wound,
It's cauterized like this,
With every pump,
A little sprays out,
But otherwise fine.
Get used to it.
Early modern setpiece, you could call it.
But when the bloodsplatter hits your face,
You'll know that somewhere, somehow,
This is reality.
The beauty; the giant,
She's grown since last we met.
You can see her down there, among the men;
Her animus,
The cheruv, with the sword and flame,
She's King now, but this isn't her war.
She is terrified, but you will never see it.
Never see past her marble-sculpt face.
Do you see it? Look past my hand.
The sky tears open.
The hellion, the pre-Shriken Plainkind,
And the mother of the King.
Can't you see them? Look, I'll move my hand.
Her swords clash against the other's.
How fast; in the sky; as both of them fly.
You can see them now.
Only she could take the Shrike.
The Condor Queen.
Her heart burns, her wings black, accented white,
Feathers fall to the ground.
Her eyes corrupted, wings flesh like bat's,
Blood streaks down, but isn't hers.
Her skin is tough, even now unwounded.
Lo, the King has arrived,
She strides down the battlefield.
Lo, the sisters fight,
Sword clashing sword, and one of them's broken;
The King's;
She carries three.
Cut and cut and cut and bind.
The giant, the maiden, bears down on her sister,
The little King.
The great sword, held back by two smaller.
Lo, the Prince of the east.
You must stay here and see,
But I will go down below.
We will escort him to the front.
Lo, the Prince of the east.
The little King lets go,
her two swords slide away,
And the giant's large weapon
cuts down into her.
The little King is rocketed into the ground,
And the maiden watches her fall.
There's far too much energy,
And she bounces back up,
The ground shatters,
and so does the heart.
Lo, the maiden gives up the fight;
Leaps forward, and catches her elder sister.
The King in her arms...
The enemy lays down their arms,
The Prince ends the battle,
And the King ends the war.
4 Revel and Rot (reprint from 2019)
Judge life through a
Philosophical vice
Watch the present though the lens
of our forefathers
Liberation and disgust
Freedom to degenerate
Revel and rot
Revel and rot.
Daniel Triumph.