My feet slice through the gravel

There should be pain where skin meets stone

But I have trod on this path for long

Enough and now I tread it fast

Enough that I feel nothing

Except the searing throb

The burning shivers

That echo pain

Behind the scars

of my heart

I have trod on this path for long

Enough and for what?

That I may breathe you life

No, that life may breathe itself back to you

No, that I may bring you back to life, my love

But not that you may love me

But that you may still be loved

For I know your time in Hades

Stilled into gentle rhythms

And bowed into wild frenzies

And I know your heart has been taken

By the king with which Death rides

I have seen your lips curve in repose

In happiness, in the shape of his sickle

In the shape of the gentle moon

Under whose pallid light I grieve

You, yourself, the moon

In endless obedient orbit

For him I have seen your cheeks

Bloom like the blazing roses

Of an eternal spring

That is neither in Death

Nor does Death deserve

For what life has a rose in the plains of limbo?

The tender sheen of its petals hidden

From the lives it once colored

Its hungry roots far removed

From any solid ground

So now I seize it back for the world

And I scatter its colors out under the sun

To thrive or to wither

After my hasty grasp

For what use is beauty if hidden?

What use is color if forgotten?

What use the handiwork of heaven in the depths of hell?

Yes, I take your petals to scatter

With my hasty grasp as I flee you back

To the mortal world, to feel once more

And now indeed you feel

The breathless groan of the climb

The wounds on your gentle feet

The horrid wind against your skin

Is this life as you remember?

Dragged as you are by an unknown impulse

That you only know you must follow

Are you moved by destiny, or by will?

Is it mine, or yours, or his?

For whose heart would you flee the dark?

For I know you feel

The crushing weight of the climb

And now you plead for rest

And rest you shall have

In heaven, once we reach the earth

In a heaven, made upon the earth

By these tireless hands

A heaven made for you

What that life tires you so much

That you prefer a seat in the dark instead?

And now I fear, is it but persistent arrogance

That I fail to bow to your wish

As the love that I profess should dictate?

But in love it is only arrogance

That shields the fragile child that is the self

Without which there is nothing

And in love it is only persistence

That cuts through the Gordian Knot

Of a ceaseless, merciless mind

Of an cruel, unflinching fate

These are but weapons, and love its wielder

Either these, or the poisoned dagger

Of deception whose blade I too hold

For my cries have deceived you

For I save you not just that you may be loved

I save you that I too may be saved

For if I do not have you to love

Then I’d just as soon join you in darkness

For I too am trapped in my own Hell

And to free you would free me too

I desire to bring you rest

That I may rest in your heaven too

For I am tired

I am weak

And I am selfish

And yet I love

And I am true

And I am yours

So I reach out —

And if you should loathe me for this journey

For waking you from your dim repose

Then so be it, for at least

Though your smile may never be mine

At least I know by life’s endless wonders

You will find a reason to smile again

Against the pale blue heaven

And the mellow sunlight

And the golden pastures

And the grazing winds

And the peaceful starlight

And you may find your smile returned in kind

By a beating heart

By a fateful hand

That moves for you

Smiles that are not merely

Bare reflected glimmers

From the empty onyx mirrors

Of an endless void

And thus I am prepared to trade

An endless pain for yet another

And I am prepared for more than that

For you

My Eurydice

And now my feet slice through the gravel

There should be pain where skin meets stone

But I have trod on this path for long

Enough that I am weary and I feel

That I fail to tread it fast

Enough, and I feel nothing

Except the weight of each step

Of each thought that seethes and tempts

Each furious beat

Each searing throb

Each burning shiver

Each pained bellow

Each breath of arrogance

Each pulse of persistence

For I know I must persist

I know I must be strong

Or else in one false step

Else in one mistake —

I fail you

I lose you

I lose it all.