the world within the world within
the cut
the incision
the revelation
we travel and travel
we move together
we leave
i am coldness
you are heat
you signal the oncoming era
i hark back to an age of larks
let science and magic then blend
let us put asunder these strange bonds of matter
michael before me
gabriel behind me
the alchemical smell of melting metal
of sulphur
of blood
of sperm
the temperate layers of flesh
the unyieilding skin of gold
the flash of light when elementals appear
the claustrophobic laboratory
what door now opens
what path can be found
which way out
which way in
which of us will go first?
me?
yes?
i plunge in like a fool
in to what
into what i do not know
i fall and fall and fall
i never become used to this falling
ah my friend has joined me
falling past me so fast
sickening jump
falling faster gaining speed
we suddenly collide
smashing full on into the wall of sleep
jolting us like solid ice
we disintegrate on impact
we break into a thousand agonizing pieces
our names are obliterated
we are given up
in liquid slowness something reassembles me
some divine process perhaps
taking oh so long
you are ready before me
you are ready to leave but you kindly will wait
the process fits us with beautiful wings
and we soar away
out of the deep abyss and its gloom
and we spiral up towards the brightest star
and we fly up up into the great sky of the earth
and you sing a mournful song as we break free
in cold space
we spirits pass
our winged shoulders pump the airless tracts
we flow in the wake of novas
we in the slipstream of the hurtling moon
where the dead make their abode
the dead moon full of dead souls
watching the world
waiting to be reborn as a helpless child
as the moon curves to take us
we alter our course
into the depths of whatever is out there which is mostly nothing
with the occasional some-thing moving through it
eventually we are sucked into spaces rip
flung into black and blacker voids
even as spirit i am afraid
we huddle in the pit
in the deep pit of the universe
where everything curves
and everything oozes
and everything slips
pulled down by eventuality…
a devil approaches us
burning in the flame of old evil
a delightful old devil
roasted red like a dried up pig
dribbling like a fiend
and poking at us
like delicacies on a hook
satan you lying bastard
satan you filthy monster
satan morningstar devourer of children
not so …..says the devil
his breath stinking of brimstone and rotten garlic
his breath stinking of cheap perfume and gelatine
his breath stinking of listerine and white paint
not so …says the devil
his tongue black and leathery
his tongue coated in green moss
his tongue forked like the serpent
not so…says the devil
his voice like velvet against glass
his voice like water lapping a pier
his voice like machinery seizing up
satan you treacherous toad
you are a very rude man says the devil
his grip is fiery
like a million bull ants biting
like a wasp colony inside your skin
his scorpion fingers
his vampire nails
his dragon wings beating foully
this is no illusion
this is no dream
this is no shadow play
he snaps his blackened reddish fingers
articulated like a lobster
and hell yawns open suddenly
and you struggle fiercely against where he has us pinned
you beat at his pinioned wings
and scratch at his eyes
screaming the name of every god you can remember
and he roars at some of those names
and others make him laugh
and still others make him cower
so the old brute knows fear, eh…..?
emboldened you break free and dart away
he turns toward me
his eyes a flaming darkness
his teeth black with flecks of blood and foam
his nostrils flared and misshapen
you….! he says
stand back wicked one ….i hopelessly shout
into his smouldering face
then you have returned with something
something that makes him snarl
spinning to face you
back for more? he asks in a deafening whisper
reaching up for you
like a giant reaching for a fly
like a monstrous child reaching for a gnat
like an angry bear reaching for a bee
you are unafraid
you hurl a stone
and like goliath
he totters
this way
and
that way
and
this way
and that way again
gasping and clutching at his forehead
where the stone lies embedded
it is a sun blazing in the night of evil
it is a star burning brightly in the caverns of black space
it was all your hope and love and strength
dont fade , star……
the prints of darkness pierced by light
the measure of him taken
his demise was assured
from the very beginning
silently we ascend
me scorched and bleeding
my wings damaged
i limp thru the skies
you pale and nearly lifeless
my old friend
in the light of cosmic rays
in the clear light radiating out from unknown sources
in the sublunar dimness
in the frozen beam of distant planets
i see your face
as we flee that dreadful place
your face like a hurt angel
your face with its noble angles
your face now quiet and drawn
the fearslayer
the master of self
the constant

you