The hatchlings’ tiny, shiny feathers
gild and grace the handle of the pipes,
and all the peace in the world
that was never attained,
broken by the strife and suffering
of humanity’s merciless
love of power
over other forms of dust,
is healed in the smoke,
blessed by
colorful fledgling feathers
that will never
feel the sun and wind and rain,
and
master the sky.
The tales grow brittle,
left untold,
The incantations, dry.
The knight, the dragon,
and the maid forgotten,
left to die.
The warrior and the quarry
cease their endless chasing game,
and all the wild in all the world
is culled, and dulled, and tame.
The story-laden stars go dark.
The magic creatures cry.
The lantern flowers give no light,
and fae no longer fly.
Beware the rift of magic
separated from the earth.
No hero comes to save the day.
There is no death or birth.
The stories lay forgotten now
on dusty, splintered shelves.
Thus we abandon to the void
the better of ourselves.
I’ve been made to understand
you’ve tamed the voices in your head,
and slaughtered to silence those
around your heart.
It’s no small thing you’ve accomplished.
You must yell ever louder,
and cut yourself until they bleed too.
Twist them slow and painfully,
like a rusty top forcefully pried
off the warped rim of a broken jar.
Grind them until their screams stop.
Take, then, the piece of you that survived the
furnace and the crucible,
and withstood the elements
of scientific arrogance
eroding the world,
and escape to
the quiet of your soul.
Watch the chaos of life leak,
streaking down the windows,
streaking down your face,
in the silent wailing
of the tamed voices,
and name yourself their
Master.
Where did the magic creatures go?
Perhaps they’re sealed inside the wall:
the fairies, elves, and goblin kings
are waiting for the children’s’ call.
Where did the magic creatures go?
Perhaps they’re drowning in the sea.
I hear them in the quiet night.
They’re coming from inside of me.
Where did the magic creatures go?
They walk above in skies of blue
The trip and fall into the mind.
And now they come from inside you.
BlackQuill 