Epic of the Six Darknesses: II

Epic of the Six Darknesses: II


II

A darkness is approaching;
I don't know which one.

The darknesses are violent
like Jacob’s angel
it is time to wrestle now
nobody warned me nobody

This darkness is the color of tears
perhaps it is the sixth darkness of stars
seeking the soul nipple
needing grief to grow
excess sorrow remaining
from the decade’s dark plunge into the blood.

Then the Fireman comes
riding on his little red engine
the color everybody calls blood
but we know what color blood really is.
The Fireman speaks,
his voice is the voice of stars
of universes, of creation:


This is not the sixth darkness.
This is the first darkness.
You must face them one by one.
I have never seen the Fireman
he is the color of heat and fire
he is like a purple gold sunset over the water
he has eyes like angels
the color and taste of warm milk
sweet like mudmilk
I taste his eyes before he rides off
on his little red engine
back to the stars

Suddenly I have strength
I lurch toward the first darkness
the darkness of birth
we grapple in the gut
while all around
the burble and gurgle of gutjuices
a volatile lava

It is seeking the seed nipple
it would take it whole into its mouth
suck out the stuff
until nothing was left
but I am strong with salvation
I deny his desire
I rise up I rise up

Then

suddenly it swallows me
takes me whole into its mouth
I am swimming through its innards
I am lost like first light reaching
across the universe
searching for a source
only to find
I am my own source
I am the life that will fill this darkness
I am the light that will swirl and burst like stars
I will burn for billions of years
satellites will blossom like flowers around me

I crawl through the first darkness
its skin becomes a tight cloak
I break through
the darkness curls away
peeling like paint

I am wet like a child
just come from the womb


Richard Smyth

Posted over on Anabiosis Press