Twelve seconds that can stretch across this great divide
where I have lived and you have died
in silence I grasp the dying embers
in quiet desperation I gather at your remainders
feeling the futile strength
of my cause forsaken
steadily these shreds melting
draining away
as they slip between my fingers
your tether line upon this place
succumbing surely to a fading manifestation
I watch a stare that loses focus
yet remains transfixed
and the world passed us by
this world that died

This river of dreams
little more than a promise I alone have commited
unwilling to be left to stand
without you at my side
my wealth of nations
and pride of leagues beyond borders
in this pursuit I shall remain unknown
till your phoenix redraws its rightful breath
as you rise slowly to find me
just as you remember
like no moments have withered and died
since last our eyes met ....

Beyond the hold of heavens hand have I descended
traded in part the weight of my original sin
upgraded it to grevious burden
before the grave
I cannot know that final destination where you reside
for to chance a reunion of our immortal souls
this small sacrifice I am bound to abide by
a contract of water-tight obligation
where the return is measured above reproach
this charr that runs thickly through my veins
cannot cloud my end character
where some of these actions I have performed
lurk as shameful reminders
I can justify that the end shall render these all
with a clearer shade of light
and you shall approve my deeds
with understanding

For to bleed a noble sin
the waters of my soul are stygian
as now I spread the remnants of your past before me
hopeful that soon we are united
darken benefactor behold my sentence unfold
I have purged most trace of virtue for vice
and extolled by these hands worn
your decrees such as they are marked
etched for all time in my hearts stone
atrocity is the name I have been branded
by those I once called fellows
the blood strains rich when
into the abyss it seeps
and now I await that ancient tome
that book once written with the assurances of madness
held fast by human folds
wherein lies the secrets of my accomplishment
and I shall read it so with a wisdom
to bestow my beloved
steal her back from angelic grace
plant her within the orchard of grief
so I may again know
a sense of repletion

When the air runs thinnest as starved pale
I sense you here beside and note
that your presence could chill
even those who know only the cold
of life in reverse unending
and anticipation of concluding my journey
fills me to the brim
this harvest of dense mist now parting to reveal
the tool I have craved with too much earnest perhaps
but as I regard these pages
fashioned upon sufferings hidden untold
the text I seek at once comes screaming
for I see the agony
found beneath my deathly fingertips
as I drink in their meaning
with only a horror of beseechment
that in order to return my love to my side
I must first sacrifice that same one as living flesh
and It comes to dawn upon me
that deals signed upon hellstone
are ever cast as illegitimate children .

RKS