Force of Will poem. Yay. This one being about Zero's short stint as the Magus of Null before her wife kicked her ass: There were five Sages Each devoted to one Attribute. The wind had Her Who vouched for You. There were six Sages Who stood against the Beyond Right beside a Princess Brought from a fake Moon. There was one Sage Standing at the seal, You. The others all Stones To ensure the Future. There were no Sages When the red one Lied And broke your Spirit Leaving only a null Void. There were two Sages Locked in fierce Combat. Both swore a promise of Death, Each made from Love. There was one Sage Standing above you Victorious And you, the fallen, Laughed As your hope was Restored.
Poetry I wrote while high because dammit we were in a mood: I’ve been able to feel My fingertips More than ever before. Every pore and crease Feels all too new And all too real. It’s like a second birth Though I’ve never died Not yet. -- I’m tired now Yet not. I’m too entranced By my pen As it drags ink across The page. Look how the letters link Right on the page. It’s a cursive all my own. -- Where’s the ceiling at? Right above me But it feels so far away Yet so near. Perhaps I need more words. -- There is a wind That blows right through My head. I sway as I weigh These words in mind. One, two, three, Four all on a page And for what purpose? My head feels light Like the ray of meditation Without a drop of it. Is this what it is To know the wind? -- How many words Can we put to a page In this sort of mood? How many words Will we understand Past this sort of mood? Our words are quite literal yet. So perhaps we need to go past The simple base literality As we know it so. Yet what’re we doing Right this moment If not simply laying them flat Right on the page? A tiler tiles And I pile Word after word With nary an idiom in sight Unless it’s winds and swords And words and wards Which clothe the truth Coming both from Them And from him. Can you hear my hand? -- The sounds of the gods Traced through my pen Into charming words Of death and more.
I hate these things and I am not sure what to do with them. Edit them I guess or like write entirely new attempts at this same idea. But there's like three or five of these fucking things and I just don't know what to do about it save that I want to. Attempt 1: To stand at the seal Is lonely but vital The solemn duty Of the Light’s sage. The other five Were locked away, One by one Into stones of might So the future was assured. To stand at the seal Was dangerous too When a small girl Dressed in a red hood Appeared before her And told filthy lies To the Light’s sage. How is one to deny A tale of oblivion Without first falling? Not even the Light’s sage Hopeful as she is Could stand to deny it. Attempt 2: To stand at the seal Is the solemn duty Of the Light’s own sage. The other five all stood And declared themselves guards Of a different sort. Stones to power an era, Stones to power the future. Yet one was needed To stay behind. The Light Sage stood forth And though uncertain Began a thousand year watch. To stand at the seal Is dangerous as well To the Light’s own sage And the world at large. Alone, apart, uncertain, She was vulnerable to lies Whispered by the sickly voice Of the Fake in Red, A dark god in disguise Who had forgotten even itself, Until her moment came at last With a box, a book, and blood moon. How was the sage to deny Those falsehoods falling to her Telling of doom and more. A corruption of this world As all scream in fear And moan in despair. A world without hope Marching towards a Null Void. That is what she saw. That is what warped her. Spirits fallen but a knight still, Thus rose a new magus, A Magus of Null. No more a Sage of Light She went forth, mercy in heart And Nothingness in hand. If the world could not be saved Then let it fall far From reality itself Leaving behind but a blank page Where once there was life. One need not fear oblivion For it is total. One need not fear oblivion For it is whole. Far and away fell a stone And a girl and a castle too. Far and away fell an elf Right out of each. Trapped for 1000 years That was the Wind’s own sage. Freed after 1000 years She bears the True Red’s Testament With a hat and a cat And the wind’s song in her ear. She is driven ever on To where she is truly needed. The wind which blows her Off to the Void itself To spy on shambling hulks Of nothingness itself That move endlessly on In endless numbers. The city streets stretch out And so too does the horde, A second Magic Stone War has begun. A second war where Light stands At the foot of Null, a slave, Raising a staff and a chant That sings scores to the Void. The peace and mercy of nothing Offered by a former sage. The sight is strange to see, Unbelievable yet so real. For kindness, she ends them. For kindness, she’ll end her. Promise made once again Uttered now only to the wind The Wind Sage steps forth And guards a host Behind a great gale, Mighty and strong. Her promise is dire Yet she grins away regardless. The Null looks down Disgust filling her soul. Disgust at what she’s become, Disgust at what the wind feels. Hatred in her heart And a prayer for mercy stirring She raises her staff And lights upon lights rise too, Ready to snuff out the wind Once and for all. Light cannot pierce a storm though, Thick and torrential as this. The rays fall flat against The flying breezes From the Wind Sage’s fingertips. Denial again and again Just as before And so many times to come. The Light cannot best the Wind. The winds do not cease And the next cut and tear, Rending branches from trees And rocks from earth. Not even the Null Magus, Strong as she is, Can stand up straight Not even the Null Magus Can keep her feet As she swears. Swears to kill her, Swears to end her. A leap forward is all it takes To trap the Null In her own fool gambit. Diving forth as she is A spell prepared, She’s buffeted back With the force Of a typhoon raging and more. A triumphant chant rings out And it hits her at last; She never had a chance, Not even once For that is the Wind’s win. What dumb words those are And what a mistake made. As the Null stands again She laughs at last, A hope returning to her heart From having been bested By the Wind As she ever is And hearing something so silly From the Wind As she ever does. What dumb words those are, Those words of Hope. Attempt 3: Six sages stood at the seal A grim guard preparing to give up all Just for a chance, a solitary hope. Five sages to stone and spread out To ward the world from horrors unknown. All but one sage who stands still At her post purpose in her heart. The sixth and youngest the Light’s own sage. Zero alone holds the gates girding our world. Uncertainty plagues her, a perilous peal of the heart But resolute she remains, a reminder of righteousness. One thousand years pass time pulling at the seams Of this world’s barriers breaking under stars’ strain. A liar rises up falsehoods falling from her Heart and soul and rending our rightful lord Grimm. The liar rises further to the kingdom in the clouds Searching her soul for truth and more. She finds not truth terrible or otherwise, Only more lies lain before her and another: The ultimate lie, the lie of self. This other has no tale truth having been taken Leaving her looking for a hint, a help, Until at last it is here staring her straight on. The truth taken from her years ago Just the sight stokes memory’s flame And just the sight stokes anger’s rage. The Liar sizes her up and she returns it in full, Magic marvelous and crackling about, A war of two red hooded riders Breaks out brutal and feelings laid bare. Truth sought by both, existence for one alone. The skies shake torn by winds and flame Falling from songs sung by two just the same Until at last the castle can contain no more. Stored up in stone the energy is pulled, Put forth for fighting with the Liar, Little Dread, Stored up in stone more will is pulled From another tower that rose to meet the pair Up in the heavens, up in Refarth. One stone cracks, the other pulls down. The castle cannot hold and it hurtles to the earth, A thousand dying and a thousand years escaped. From one stone the green of Feethsing Emerges a solitary sage the Wind’s own Fiethsing. There is a song sailing through the winds, Hearing it she stands fate flowing through her, And with a hat and cat she marches to war. The seal starts crumbling, rended by the lies Of the False Red who tumbles to the earth. With her cry, a begging for being Falls the gate, the guardian got as well. One thousand years of dread and drear Draw down the sage, sinking her deep down Into the depths of despair, a perilous pit. As the liar stands revealed at last The Light is snuffed out leaving only a Null Zero. Two sages sing songs of sorcery, Chanting down foes full of conviction. One for Hope, one for Despair, And the winds bring tell of both before long. A tune that drives dread straight to the Holy Wind As she makes a vow vicious and violent; To kill the Null if she can’t be calmed. The breeze’s song irritates the Null too. Not with dread but deep annoyance. Again she is here foiling her plots. Again she is here full of too much Hope. For the Holy Wind she wishes for death; A merciful liberation before the Gods come. Death in their hearts they head forth Staves raised and chants calling out. Light and Wind rip through the land, Carrying away many caught in the crossfire. Gales guard lives licked by the light And raise the hearts of the whole host, Against the phantasmal void vying for nothing. At each turn the Null finds the Wind Winding down her spells till they are but toys, Simple tricks of light, useless for mercy. At each turn the Wind finds the Null Struggling against squalls having never learned That no one bests her, the Fate Spinning Winds. That is her downfall, her refusal to accept that fact. A torrential tornado tears on through her. To Exceed ever and on is the Elves’ way, To Exceed ever and on is the path to victory. A gulping gust grows more and more And swallows up the Null and her lights too Leaving nothing behind save life itself. The Null couldn’t stand as she never could, And now the Light she knows that even more. A whoop and a cheer, a cry of love from the Wind And the Light knows deep, deep down That never can she match the wondrous wind’s majesty.
Attempt three is actually written in half lines. You may be able to tell where there are actually spaces in the middles of the lines. I hope so anyway.
And now to celebrate the end of Reiya cluster with a poem depicting the very thing that started it! Fiethsing's premonition! Four drafts to get to this point too.
So because I found it somewhere here is the very first poem I ever wrote of my own accord. Not for a class or anything. I was about 20 when I wrote it and it was for a Homestuck rp I was part of: The moon is missing stolen silently at night, sliding down the ghoul's gullet. A woman wakes and looks warily to find the moon gone and grumbles. A knife is nabbed, and into the night she heads ever hoping, perhaps she will end the preying posthaste. But the wolves have woken. Growls heard she gasps, but gambles and the varcolac is victor. A knife means nothing in the night. She is torn, tormented. They bark and bay in blood and a morbid moon rises.
I wanted a fucking Kingdom Hearts au for FoW. I have made a fucking Kingdom Hearts au for FoW. It involves poetry because of course it fucking does. This is just the first draft. I intend to go through this all and get up a second draft at least before I officially publish it on ao3, but here's the first draft for all here to see: Who are you? You ask yourself that As you gaze into a pool Of clear, clear water That reflects your face. Just who are you? Zero. That’s your name And it’s always been that. Your hair is blue, Your eyes are red, And you’ve a tattoo too, A little red one Right under your left eye. You don’t know why And you don’t know when Or where you got it But it’s there. Like your sword, the Key That closes doors And opens worlds, It’s there. You don’t know why Or when or where. Not with the tattoo, Not with the sword, Or even your name. You figure though As you watch your face That it’s fine. That it’s just a memory Far, far back From so long ago That it’s fading fast Like a puff of dream From the night before. So you don’t mind it Because you’re you, Zero. So you continue about Questing and searching, Closing door after door With your love, a mage, Who calls herself Fiethsing, A sage of some king Grimm. You travel with her daughter too Who you guess is yours as well, Just the same as her. Together as a family you go From world to world And you slay them The little black shadows That rise from the nothing Left from those without Hearts. This is what you’ve done For days now, For weeks now, For months now. You travel where they rise Threatening to swallow up worlds, And each time you crush them Before you lock the gates And move on to the next With your family Faithful as always As you continue about. At night though On a dusty plain You can’t get the shadows out, Out of mind, out of Heart. The Heartless prance about Singing a song of familiarity. It taunts you, that tune, And draws your mind, Your attention To a sort of kinship, A deep yearning and knowing. Yet of what you don’t know. It’s there though, It’s there and it nags. Clawing, clawing at your mind As you roll over with a huff And you tell Fieth it’s alright. You’ll get to sleep sometime, But maybe not at night. Fieth. You think about her too As you move on from dusty plains To deep wide seas. How long’ve you known her? It feels almost like, It feels just as if You’ve always known her. That she’s always been, Been with you Just like now. You know that’s not true Because it can’t be, It just can’t, can’t be. You search and search though Just the same, For things before her, For times before her And it only goes back so far. A day maybe Or ten, You don’t know how many But it’s not many, oh no. No, hardly any Because she’s always been here With you. Smiling and teasing, Hugging and kissing, And thrusting you against walls And floors too. She always been here. You’ve always known her, Fieth. It’s impossible though, It has to be. That makes no sense, It can’t make any And yet you feel it Deep down To the core of you, Your very being That that’s as far back As your being goes. That this woman Who taught you so much, How to love, How to parent, How to hope, Is as far as it goes. This woman who taught you So, so much Is as far back as you go, And those things she taught? You know them only from her. You knew nothing before her, But that’s impossible though. Then you hear it, A name you know And which you don’t know, Reiya. Three sounds fall From the lips of a man In a world of forts with moats And straw mats and paper walls That vampires haunt, Re-i-ya. You know the sounds, But you don’t know them And your daughter’s confused And your lover too And you most of all. You brush it off With a shrug and steely glare Because there’s work to be done. There’s shadows to slay, Doors to close, Hearts to save, But you heard it. Reiya. Who is that? Just who or what And why can you see her In your mind’s eye Fuzzy and indistinct Like a half remembered dream? She’s a woman like you With blue hair And red eyes And a little red tattoo too Just under her left eye. Over and over, Night after night, The name nags at you, Pulling at your mind, Refusing to leave you And let you be. It’s there, just there Ever and on That name, that woman Who’s so familiar and not at all. You need to know why, You need to know why you know. You need her, Reiya. Sometimes it feels like You can’t really feel. Which sounds weird. It sounds odd and awful And horribly, horribly untrue. Sometimes though, Just a bit, It feels like you don’t feel, Not really. There’s nothing there In your Heart When you shout out in fear, Sounding a shrill shriek For your child As that damned warlock Alhama’at, source of Darkness And researcher of Void, Tries to steal her And her Heart. You scream and you cry And you fight and you struggle On and on Until you save her, Until she’s in your arms And you both in Fieth’s. But there was nothing, Nothing at all in your Heart. You shouted, you fought But did you feel it? Did your heart ache Or were you just Acting? Sometimes it feels like it. The worst is yet to come When you tear through Book after book Looking at his archives And his libraries And his labs Looking for answers, Looking for whys. Why has the warlock gone, Gone and stolen Hearts And why would he And how could he And why do you know him? You read and read Even as Fieth, dear Fieth, Lays a hand on you, On your shoulder And asks you to rest, To calm yourself To sleep a bit, or eat a bit Because books can’t run. Just ignore that castle Where books could run And armoires too. That’s what she tells you, But you can’t, You just can’t And you shout Shoving her off. Physically, mentally You need her to leave Because you keep seeing it. You see it. Mentions of more than Hearts And those without Hearts. You see it, That one word Over and over You see it, Nobody. So you have to, You have to keep reading, Reading and reading Because the worst is yet to come. Then you find her Deep in his lab The woman in your mind, Back, back in at the edges Of memory itself Buried almost as deep As she is here. You all three find her Reiya, Her name on the pod. She has blue hair And red eyes, So you figure Since they’re shut tight As she sleeps on. But she has blue hair And a little red tattoo Just under her left eye. Just under your left eye. You’ve found her. Kaguya Always so astute, Full of that intuition and cleverness That only children have And Fieth too you guess, She says it. Loud and clear For all to hear She says, Look! It’s you, Zero! Your eyes widen at that And your sword falls, Falls to the floor With a clatter And there’s nothing there. There’s nothing in your Heart. It doesn’t ache, doesn’t pain. There’s no lifting of weight When Fieth calls your name And holds you close. There’s no concern As Kaguya frets and wonders Just what she did wrong, And how she hurt you. She’s worried, she’s crying And it’s setting in at last, A deep knowing Shared by you both. The end is coming. To what though, She can’t guess. You can’t guess either As you cling to Fieth. You can’t feel either As you say her name, Kaguya. There’s even more notes Which go on and on About Hearts and Nobodies And how to restore both, How to save them, The people without Hearts. The one can’t exist, Not while the other does. There’s one and only one, There has to be, There must be. It can’t be helped, And suddenly, right then You know why he hates you, Why he tries to end you. Not for locking gates alone, But what you’ve taken. You all read on ever more As there’s still so much more And you find it A family, Three people together. A mother and a father, And a little son Who used to be a brother Until he lost his Heart, Until a Nobody was made, raised Into a Somebody Or so they hoped. Three people together, Until there was one, Only one. A man obsessed With what he lost At the hands of his ‘son’ And before his ‘son’. A man once calmed, Kept from revenge By a family alone Seeking to save a family And still there’s even more notes. Lapis, The final piece, The last secret Which makes it click Snapping together neatly Like a puzzle. He’s there too In the lab, in the pod. Just like Reiya. He’s there too Resting ever and on. Just like Reiya. He’s there too In the back of your mind. Just. Like. Reiya. A boy, a son, A brother Running about Wanting to be more Than just a lie. A boy, a son, A brother Who struck her down And who feels nothing As he crushes life. He is here, Lapis. You can’t go, not just yet. All three of you say so. You can’t bear it, can’t do it Though it needs to be done. It stares you in the face, Assaulting from all sides. From notes and pods And your memories too, But you can’t bear it, not yet. So you hide up there In the rooms without books, Safe from secrets Too horrid to have learned. You’re all together, As you’d always been As long as you’ve known, A family. You’re all together, Two mothers And a daughter, A family. She’s in your lap Little Kaguya Curled up and sleeping, Tired and worn down, Driven to slumber by tears. She’s there too, Fieth, With an arm around you And her head against you. They’re both here with you As they’ve always been And you try to feel Just this once, Just one time Before you leave it all behind, But you can’t. You can’t feel it In your Heart Even as you kiss Fieth. You can’t feel it In your Heart Even as you tell her. You can’t feel it Even as she says the same. There was never love, Just an act at it Learned from her And half memories of a Somebody Who you tried to be. Even so, even knowing so You can’t go, not just yet. Just one more night Is all you need And all she needs, So you sneak away, The both of you, Leaving Kaguya to rest Guarded by your companions, A cat, an owl, and a rabbit, Each a fierce fighter. You sneak away, The both of you, Not too far, just enough For privacy, for intimacy, For just one more moment. Together, barely clothed. Together, wanting more. Together, cherishing it. It can’t last forever, It’s only a moment Gone before you know it, And you’re still not sure But you think That maybe, just maybe, Just this once That there’s something there, Something more than act, Just for one night. The Key opens gates To worlds upon worlds Beyond counting and reckoning. The Key opens Hearts Beyond understanding and knowing. The Key is a sword, First and foremost, A weapon with which you fight The Darkness. The Key is a sword, First and foremost, A weapon with which you slay The Darkness. You take up your sword And turn it inwards And plunge it deep, deep within, Deep, deep until it’s through you. You take up your sword As they watch and wait, As the cry and mourn And you can’t understand why Because there was never anyone there, Never a Somebody. You were just a Nobody Who wielded a Key, A Key that opens gates. She wakes up From a long dream That she can’t quite grasp Even though it’s vivid, So, so vivid and almost real. It seems almost like a life That she’s lived Apart from her own, But the dream fades away As all do Leaving only the lab And the pod, Which she forces open. She falls out, Not expecting so little a fight And falls to the floor With a cry. There’s a gasp To which she looks up Into faces she’s seen Only in dreams And she hears a voice From someone she’s heard Only in dreams. She calls out her name, Reiya. She calls out your name, Reiya. You’ve woken up.
The current draft. The changes made in the second draft were primarily housekeeping to remove redundant lines and get the meter better sorted out. The most recent changes from the third draft are the addition of three stanzas to better establish certain characters and their relationship with Zero. The fourth and potentially final draft will sort out those new stanzas to better fit the meter and the stanzas surrounding them to better mesh the new ones into the body: Who are you? You ask yourself that As you gaze into a pool Of clear water That reflects your face. Just who are you? Zero. That’s your name And it’s always been that. Your hair is blue, Your eyes are red, And you’ve a tattoo too, A little red one Right under your left eye. You don’t know why And you don’t know when Or where you got it But it’s there. Like your sword, the Key That closes doors And opens worlds, It’s there. You don’t know why Or when or where. Not with the tattoo, Not with the sword, Or even your name. You figure though As you watch your face That it’s fine. It’s just a memory From far, far back From so long ago That it’s fading fast Like a puff of dream From the night before. So you don’t mind it Because you’re you, Zero. So you continue about Questing and searching, As you close door after door With your lover, a mage, Who calls herself Fiethsing, A sage of some king named Grimm. You travel with her daughter too Who you guess is yours as well, Just the same as hers. Together as a family you go From world to world And you slay them The little black shadows That rise from the nothing Left from those without Hearts. This is what you’ve done For days and weeks and months now. You travel where they rise As they threaten to swallow up worlds, And each time you beat them back Before you lock the gates And move on to the next world With your family in tow, Faithful as always, As you continue about. At night though On a dusty plain You can’t get the shadows out, They prance about your mind Singing a familiar song. The tune, it taunts you And draws your mind To a sort of kinship, And a deep yearning and knowing. You don’t know of what But it’s there, just the same, Clawing, clawing at your mind As you roll over with a huff And you tell Fieth it’s alright. You’ll get to sleep sometime, But maybe not at night. Alhama’at Is a name dark like the night And a man just that dark too. So dark that his eyes glow The same deep gold Of the Heartless, lonely and lost And more vast than you can know. You don’t know why or understand How he keeps opening the gates Or why would he would. So he can take the Hearts of people As well as worlds Is the answer, you’re sure of it But how could he and why would he? You don’t know why either That he looks at you And seems almost to burn With a hate you can’t comprehend For all that you are. You figure that perhaps it’s the Key And how you hassle and harangue Closing gate after gate Before he can wrech away the Hearts From the worlds you fight him on Always demanding to know more And never getting answers. You’re so sure of this and yet You can’t help but think That there’s more to it Coming from the memories lurking So deep that you can’t recall them Even as you look at that face With a name you’ve only just learned And learned to hate But eyes you do know. You can’t help but think that The hate in those eyes is new And unfamiliar just like the name, Alhama’at. Fieth. You think about her too As you move on from dusty plains To deep wide seas. How long’ve you known her? It feels almost like, Just as if You’ve always known her. That she’s always been there, Right with you Just like now. You know that’s not true Because it can’t be, But you search and search For things before her, And times before her And it only goes back so far. A day maybe Or ten, You don’t know how many But it’s not many, oh no. No, hardly any, Because she’s always been here With you. Smiling and teasing, Hugging and kissing, Thrusting you against walls And floors too, Because she’s always been here. And you’ve always known her, Fieth. That’s impossible though, It has to be. It makes no sense, It can’t make any But you feel it Deep down To the core of you, Your very being, That that’s as far back As your being goes. That this woman Who taught you so much, How to love, How to parent, How to hope, Is as far as you go And those things she taught? You know them only from her. You knew nothing before her, But that’s impossible, right? Then you hear it, A name you don’t know And which you do know, Reiya. Three sounds fall From the lips of a man In a world of forts with moats And straw mats and paper walls That vampires haunt: Re-i-ya. You know the sounds, And you don’t know them And your daughter’s confused And your lover too And you most of all. You brush it off With a shrug and a steely glare Because there’s work to be done. There’s shadows to slay, And doors to close, And Hearts to save, But you heard it. Reiya. Who is that? Just who or what And why can you see her In your mind’s eye Fuzzy and indistinct Like a half remembered dream? She’s a woman like you With blue hair And red eyes And a tattoo too A little read one Right under her left eye. Over and over, Night after night, The name nags at you, And refusing to leave you. It’s there, just there, Ever and on, That name, that woman Who’s so familiar and yet not at all. You need to know why, You need to know why you know. You need her, Reiya. There’s a lot you need to know And which he’ll never share As you go from world to world Demanding answers from a madman Whose done so much harm And yet not as much as you see Right now in a world of cities. Towers tumble to the ground, Fires spark the world over, And death fills the streets. You see him here too Right in the middle of it all And somehow you know That it can’t have been him And he says so himself Calling you fools as always. Fools who are blown back By a power greater than the warlock’s That comes from the hands of a boy Whose very visage shocks you More than you’ve ever been. He’s just a boy, Young like your daughter, But the grin on his face Is full of mocking malice As he holds up the Heart Of the world you’re on And taunts damnable Alhama’at Calling him father And mucking up the whole story With more questions than you can count. More come as he crushes the Heart, Not even stealing it To use for whatever dark designs That he might have. Lives beyond counting end And all you can do is rush and run The three of you To your ship and off the world Wondering all over and over Just how could that have happened. You wonder and wonder As the world blinks from reality Never to come back Even from a restoration. You wrack your mind as you watch Numbly full of nothing From the shock you guess And you understand nothing, No matter how hard you try. There’s so much you need to know. Sometimes it feels like, You can’t really feel. Which sounds weird. It sounds odd and awful And horribly untrue. Sometimes though, Just a bit, It feels like you don’t feel, Not really. Like on this day When there’s nothing there In your Heart As you shout out in fear For your child As that damned warlock Alhama’at, source of Darkness And researcher of Void, Tries to steal her And her Heart. You scream and you cry And you fight and you struggle On and on Until you save her, Until she’s in your arms And you both in Fieth’s, But there is nothing, Nothing at all in your Heart. You shouted, you fought But did you feel it? Did your Heart ache Or were you just Acting? Sometimes it feels like it. Something you’re sure of Beyond a shadow of a doubt Is that the boy doesn’t feel. Your feelings and their lack aside You know with certainty That he can’t have a Heart in him, That behind those red, red eyes And that cocky, cruel grin There is no Heart. This you know because you’ve seen Again and again How he sweeps life away Without a second thought. All of you have And all of you stare him down In a world falling to pieces Under the weight of its own Heart And the loss of it all. You hold out your sword In a challenge And you make your demands Of why and how he could do this, When not even Alhama’at can, When not even a warlock is so cold And needlessly destructive. ‘Oh you’d love to know that Wouldn’t you?’ he answers back Voice forsaken by Light and Dark, ‘Even though you know why.’ He’s cryptic, always so cryptic And you’re at your wits ends Thinking to set him down And chastise the brat. It’s a familiar desire now Thanks to Kaguya And you guess it comes up here Because he’s just so young. To your surprise though He does provide an answer In coordinates if not words As he tosses a book to you And says ‘If you dally too long You’ll go just like this false world!’ The words spur you all on And the numbers awaken a thrill Of familiarity at something As you make an escape From yet another tragic failure. The next world won’t fall, You tell yourself that firmly As you enter in the coordinates. You’ll get the answers you need Right from those numbers there. That’s something you’re sure of. The worst is yet to come As you tear through Book after book Looking at his archives And his libraries And his labs Looking for answers, And looking for whys. Why has the warlock gone And stolen Hearts And why would he And how could he And why do you know him? You read and read Even as Fieth Lays a hand on your shoulder And asks you to rest, And to calm yourself. Sleep a bit, or eat a bit “Because books can’t run. Just ignore that castle Where books could run And armoires too.” That’s what she tells you, But you can’t, And you shout Shoving her off Physically, mentally, Because need her to leave, Because you keep seeing it. You see it. Mentions of more than Hearts And those without Hearts. You see that one word Over and over: Nobody. So you have to, You have to keep reading And reading and reading Because the worst is yet to come. Then you find her Deep in his lab, The woman in your mind, And who’s back in at the edges Of memory itself Buried almost as deep As she is here. You all three find her Reiya, Her name on the pod. She has blue hair And red eyes, So you figure Since they’re shut tight As she sleeps on. But she has blue hair And a tattoo too, A little red one, Right under her left eye. Right under your left eye. And you’ve found her. Kaguya Always so astute, And full of that intuition That only children have And Fieth too, you guess, She says it. She says it, Loud and clear For all to hear, “Look! It’s you, Zero!” Your eyes widen at that And your sword falls to the floor With a clatter And there’s nothing there. There’s nothing in your Heart. It doesn’t ache, doesn’t pain. There’s no lifting of weight When Fieth calls your name And holds you close. There’s no concern either As Kaguya frets and wonders Just what she did wrong, And how she hurt you. She’s worried and she’s crying And it’s setting in at last, A deep knowing Shared by you both. The end is coming. To what though, She can’t guess And you can’t either As you cling to Fieth. You can’t feel either As you say her name, Kaguya. There’s even more notes Which go on and on About Hearts and Nobodies And how to restore both, How to save them, The people without Hearts. The one can’t exist, Not while the other does. There’s one and only one, There has to be, There must be. It can’t be helped, And suddenly right then You know why he hates you, Why he tries to end you With such ferocity. It’s not for locking gates alone, But for what you’ve taken. The three of you all read on ever more As there’s still so much more to read And you find it A family, Three people together. There was a mother and a father, And a little son Who used to be a brother Until he lost his Heart, And a Nobody was made and raised Into a Somebody, Or so they hoped. There were three people together, Until there was one And only one. Only a man obsessed With what he had lost At the hands of his ‘son’ And before his ‘son’. A man who was once calmed And kept from revenge By a family alone Who now seeks to save a family And still there’s even more notes. Lapis, The final piece, The last secret, Which makes it click Snapping together neatly Like a puzzle. He’s there too In the lab, in the pod, Just like Reiya. He’s there too Resting ever and on, Just like Reiya. He’s there too In the back of your mind. Just. Like. Reiya. A boy, a son, A brother Running about And wanting to be more Who struck his mother down And who feels nothing As he crushes life. He is here, Lapis. You can’t go, not just yet, All three of you say so. You can’t bear it, can’t do it Even though it needs to be done And stares you in the face, Assaulting from all sides. From notes and pods And memories too, But you can’t bear it, not yet. So you hide up there In the rooms without books, Safe from secrets Too horrid to have learned And you’re all together. All together as you’ve always known, A family. Two mothers And a daughter, Just like always. She’s in your lap Little Kaguya Curled up and sleeping, Tired and worn out, Driven to slumber by tears. She’s there too, Fieth, With an arm around you And her head against you. They’re both here with you As they’ve always been And you try to feel Just this once, Just one time, Before you leave it all behind, And you can’t. You can’t feel it In your Heart Even as you kiss Fieth, You can’t feel it In your Heart Even as you tell her, You can’t feel it In your Heart Even as she says the same, Because there was never love, Just an act at it Learned from her And the half memories of a Somebody Who you tried to be. But even knowing so You can’t go, not just yet. Just one more night Is all you need And all she needs, So you sneak away, The both of you. You leave Kaguya to rest Guarded by your companions; A cat, an owl, and a rabbit, Each a fierce fighter As you sneak away, The both of you, Not too far, just enough For privacy, for intimacy, For just one more moment. Together, barely clothed, Together, wanting more, Together, cherishing it Because it can’t last forever. It’s only a moment, Gone before you know it, And you’re still not sure But you think That maybe, just maybe, Just this once That there’s something more, Something more than an act, Just for one night. The Key opens gates To worlds upon worlds Beyond counting and reckoning. The Key opens Hearts Of people and people Beyond understanding and knowing. The Key is a sword, First and foremost, A weapon with which you fight The Darkness. The Key is a sword, First and foremost, A weapon with which you slay The Darkness. You take up your sword And turn it inwards And plunge it deep, deep within, Deep, deep until it’s through you. You take up your sword As they watch and wait, As the cry and mourn And you can’t understand why Because there was never anyone there, Never a Somebody. You were just a Nobody Who wielded a Key, A Key that opens gates. She wakes up From a long dream That she can’t quite grasp Even though it’s vivid, And almost real It seems like a life That she’s lived apart from her own, And the dream fades away As all do Leaving only the lab And the pod, Which she forces open. She falls out, Not expecting so little a fight And falls to the floor With a cry. There’s a gasp And she looks up Into faces she’s seen Only in dreams And she hears a voice From someone she’s heard Only in dreams. This someone calls out her name, Reiya. She calls out your name, Reiya. And you’ve woken up.
Do please take note of the fact that the Alhama'at and Fieth stanzas occur right next to each other. Do please take note that Alhama'at's occurs before Fieth's. This is important foreshadowing.
I think I'm going to get up the specifics of the form soon. Just so everyone is aware of the rules of the form.
Here are the particulars of the form used in this poem: This is a narrative form. This is a stanzaic form. There is no limit on the lengths of either stanzas nor lines, nor is there a limit on the number of stanzas. The rhythm of the poem is closer to the natural speaking rhythm of your particular dialect. Instances of falling rhythm, heroic rhythm, and other such meters must be kept at a purposeful minimum. Alliteration and rhyming must also be kept at a naturalistic minimum. The poem is in the second person perspective of the primary viewpoint character. The primary viewpoint character's psyche in one aspect is thoroughly explored through the poem's narrative. A shift in perspective is permitted, especially in the final stanza. The allowance is, however, very limited. A poem of the length presented may only be allowed a single instance of a perspective change and the perspective change must be exceptionally purposeful to be allowed, as an example of the limits. The stanzas must all begin and end with the same line or a similarly constructed line. These lines are unique to the particular stanzas they are in and they cannot be repeated save in those stanzas. These are called dunads, closings. The stanzas, due to how dunads work and that each has a unique dunad, must be constructed almost like individual poems and can be read as such. The stanzas must however come together to form a singular poem. The stanzas should bleed into the following stanza either thematically or narratively. This is often done with linking lines at the end of a stanza and the beginning of the following stanza. Every primary character in the narrative must be given a stanza where the dunad is their name and only their name. This includes the primary viewpoint character. These stanzas serve to expand upon the relationship between the primary viewpoint character and the other characters, including themselves. These may or may not be introductions to particular characters.
