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THERE IS no sleep as dreamless as this: no sleep at all / no waking / no consciousness. The dark skyless sky is a threadbare blanket, frayed at the edges between un- and real. OH MOTHER / SEAMSTRESS: weaving ribbons of sinew between her calloused hands ... Is it only in these fleeting moments, these century-long seconds, that I may feel your gentle, guiding touch / that I may love you as always you have deserved, whilst you pick the dead cartilage from between my ribs ? This longing is infinite / this longing is confined to the spaces between points: in the small pockets of void where no unholy inheritance shackles them. AND IN THIS WAY, MOTHER AND SON ( MOTHER AND HERSELF ) CAN PRETEND / can entertain such thoughts as I miss you and I want-
BUT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WANT. THERE IS THE BECK AND CALL OF MASTER-KING AND THE DILLIGENCE OF HIS FAITHFUL SLAVE. THERE IS PROGENY AND THERE IS LIGHT; THERE IS ELDIA ETERNAL, LONG MAY SHE REIGN.
But still - and stillness, always - Mother Ymir is kind / far kinder than she knows, kinder than she is ever allowed to be. She works tirelessly, fingers buried deep into the meat of the Earth, sculpting mountains of ( destroy / obliterate / conquer ) and great smooth plains of ( protect / defend / support ). She gives shape to thought and purpose to action, with nurturing care and acts of divine patience - AND OH, GOD, WHAT A HOLLOW GRIEF IT MUST BE: TO SEE YOUR CHILDREN RETURNED BACK TO YOU IN SHAMBLES / IN DISGRACE. Then: how could you love me, mother mine ? How could you tolerate the depraved horror of this vessel ? How could you love these too-heavy limbs, these monstrous acts ? I have done nothing but exist / and then not. IN ANOTHER WORLD: “Why does he have to become someone great ? Isn’t it enough that he was born into this world ?“ IN ANOTHER TWO THOUSAND YEARS: ENOUGH. ENOUGH. I’M PUTTING AN END TO THIS.
It’s far more than he / she / it / they ( ? ) deserve. Oh, on and on !! This sharp ache, this absence / abscess: the way those linen bedsheets wrestle with the air, trapping nothing, folding into themselves the shape Mother, chasing buffets of wind echoing with her laughter. THE PAST: a young girl stumbles blindly into the hollow of a great dead tree and drowns in its roots, dying alone and unwanted. THE PRESENT: a man takes a blade to his arm and thinks only of the village at his back with its people imprisoned, his heart beating a steady mantra of safety / freedom / choice. THE FUTURE: a young woman’s face creases with worry as she untangles yet another knot in a long skein of dark red wool; she can’t help but think she’s making a fool of herself for wanting to apologize to a wild animal that knows not the difference between terror and wonder. ALWAYS THE LOVE, BLINDED BY HATE. ALWAYS THE HATE, BLINDED BY LOVE. Don’t you see how cute he is already ? For me, it’s enough to be able to watch him grow up. Even if he goes far away- even if, one day, I’m unable to ever see him again ...
If only one would will it to be so !! What more does a mother want for their child, than to see them free and happy ? And what more does a child want for their mother, than to see them lifted from the rubble, alive and unhurt and always holy, in their eyes / unbreakable, unyielding ? In me I carry you, and in my heart you rest, your head bowed, your soul at peace. Mother, why can’t you understand ? Mother, why can’t you put down your work - spare me the sewing of veins in this patchwork quilt of a body - and lie down beside me, so that we may watch the stars ? I MISS YOU. I MISS YOU SO MUCH. I FEAR I WILL CRUMBLE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THIS LONELINESS. I FEAR I WILL FORGET TO COME BACK TO YOU / I FEAR I WILL LEAVE YOU BEHIND AND NEVER FIND YOU AGAIN. Mother, come with me !! Mother, I don’t want to survive / if a life without you in it is worth anything at all, then it is free to forfeit: you are priceless, you are irreplaceable. I cannot un-exist as I do without your guiding hand clasped gently around my pulsating heart / you cannot love me as I have loved you since before forever. Let me give you this much - let me prove I can take care of you, just this once ...
THERE IS NOTHING. THERE IS THIS: A FRACTURED SOUL IS REJOINED IN STITCHES, IN INCREMENTS, IN THE SLOW CRAWL OF YEARS BEING BLED DRY BY A SHADELESS TREE. HER LIPS AT YOUR TEMPLE: HER LULLABIES A CALL TO ACTION. YOU CAN TASTE HER VOICE LIKE SO MUCH MUD CLOYING AT THE BACK OF YOUR THROAT. YOU CAN SWALLOW AROUND THE DECADES AND STILL NOT COME ANY CLOSER TO CHOKING DOWN YOUR PRIDE. I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU, AND I MISS YOU, AND I WANT TO COME HOME TO YOUR WARM ARMS AROUND MY SHOULDERS ONCE MORE-
Mother works in silence. She works in darkness / her eyelids sealed shut, her gaze downcast. ( Can you not even bear the sight of me ? Are you so disgusted ? Am I everything that reminds you of what you cannot be ? ) He / it / she / it / they / it wants nothing more than to console her in these uneven bouts of stillness - but it has no will of its own ( not yet ) and has no thought to spare for its right to exist at the expense of everything else ( not now ). So they must content themselves with nothing, because there is nothing: THERE IS THE BEGINNING, AND THE END, AND THE BEGINNING AGAIN. Even so ... the moment is over before it has even begun. No time or space left for words or want. There is only a grin / too many teeth / a cheshire smile pulled taut at the corners, the barest flicker of hope / a child grasping at his mother’s skirts while she dotes and beams with naked fondness. One day, I’ll take you far away from here. We’ll go on a big adventure, you and me - we’ll leave this place and never come back. Just wait- just a little while longer, Mom. I’ll come back for you. We’ll be sunkissed and sweet and you will get to pick fresh apples from the old tree in our backyard, and you’ll be happy: YOU’LL BE FREE.
send 😓 for my muse to express worry to yours.













