this ground seems so oft tread
the footprints are familiar
a windless plane; a dear air
chastens my heart.

each step is as hollow as the heart
syncopated monotony.

it’s a tiring climb and his hands are bleeding. calloused and cracked palms betray the jagged rock that looked as smooth as alabaster from a distance. the view is imperiously breathtaking, a forrest of leaveless trees, their gnarled branches reaching heavenwards as though frozen in terror, or pain. the drop below holds certain death, yet her ladyship looks up smiling and he hides his willingness to accept her invitation. the bitter irony of no man’s land is almost as paralysing as snake’s venom, and oh does it course through his veins, each palpitation beats fear through his body. the night wind caresses his face as he looks into the sky he has always thought of as midnight blue, only to realise the enormity of its vast, inescapable blackness, the maw of Hades. the stars haughtily regard him, almost treating his gaze as an insult to their modesty. they cloak their brightness and what was once a flicker, flickers out. he reaches up, anxious, frightened, desperate, grabbing hold of the rock above and hoisting himself up, feeling the stony razors of the cliff’s edge drawing blood, the smell of iron pervading his bodice. enough.

it rushes towards him on swift wings, announced only by the gnashing of jaws, rending him limb from limb. the rocks below are crimson. the stars resume their dance, confident in their privacy as they sparkle and shine. spring comes and summer harkens, the flowers bloom once more.

~ by aevylain on May 4, 2009.