I

The world seemed just an empty field,

Once the fanfare and chaos stayed behind.

Every path carried the call of birds, of joy too bright to touch,

Yet death and anguish kept it all confined, a weight unnamed,

That caused rage and hatred to flicker together. 

Still, the world opened itself as if waiting for me.

From that bright gate, a beginning took shape.

II

Then came the nights that made the sky kneel,

Unrequited love, funeral rites, betrayal and anxiety,

Each piercing me like burning shards.

From the dark rose a figure with an icy touch,

Grasping me by the throat, draining the color out of the world.

But through the pain came the first, divine light,

Telling me what it means to lose part of myself, but to return.

III

And so I learned the world again, newly vast,

Summer’s bold march in, the forests’ hum, the birds,

Even the beings divine or the anguish of the sinner.

Yet love, so bitter, so lonesome, so profound, weaved itself into all.

What did these forces demand of me?

Through emotions, through each day I realized,

Each one was shaping me.

IV

In the gentler years, I felt the warm morning sun,

Transform the world around me ever so softer.

We spoke in quiet, in joy and tragedy,

Your hand found mine, in calm and in support,

With each day forging a fragile, luminous stillness that is forever,

A weight that we carried together.

The world asked nothing more of us.

V

Together we could conquer all,

We weathered even the harshest of storms,

Their crashing lightning only strengthening our courage.

Waltzes and rondos spun around us, suspending every fear,

For time stood still, watching and waiting for our every move.

Even when we fell, we rose once again.

Love, once so cold, had finally learned to speak in my direction.

VI

But fate arrived with a violence so harsh and bitter,

One that shattered our world without warning.

Our dances twisted into frantic shadows we couldn’t recognize,

Our walks into pounding marches of death and rage.

The countryside, our home that once brought us so much warmth,

Torn away from our hands blow after blow.

My voice, my life was buried under the rubble.

VII

When I arose once again, in the bleak of night,

I saw a world I once knew destroyed.

Past happiness and memories like lanterns in the fog,

Yet so distant, so unattainable, so unrecognizable.

Under the unending, twisted moonlight I tried,

Again and again to feel that joy we shared.

But all I found was a mask, that smiled but didn’t feel.

VIII

The light and joy returned once more, overflowing,

The broad, unending power of the Earth flowed through me.

As if fate had regretted its cruel actions.

The weight of the rubble was lifted,

I regrew my wings, my world grew once more.

Enough to hold the sorrows of a lifetime.

And through one last gate you stood, waiting once more.

IX

Once more did we take the path, yet something was different,

A looming darkness, a scar that never healed.

One that grew louder, that pounded my chest, only to fade to nothingness

Clumsily did we dance to the old tunes, some of the steps lost to time.

When joy returned so did the pain, the scar we carried erupted,

All the past we shared dissolving into a bittersweet tear.

One that we feel gently roll from eye to cheek to ground.

X

I stood, all alone, with the world before me blurring and thinning,

Each day, the dances were lost, our photos faded, and I withered.

With the color fading out of my life, I collapsed, writhing and screaming in pain.

Play it normal, dance alone, live like nothing happened,

Yet purgatory crept yet again, violently slashing my body like a sword.

Collapsed, bleeding, fate striking me again and again,

Yet as I lay there, I heard you. I felt your warmth.

Only for it to be struck out of reach.

Blow after blow, fate mocked me.

As I lay there, I screamed. To no reception.

A torn soul left my body.

Towards the sky it flew.

Yet a familiar warmth clutched my hand.

You.