Touch
By
- 394 reads
Suddenly I hold in my hands a rose,
its red petals kissing me with their softness,
draping me with their sweet fragrance of love.
Then I feel its sharp thorn prick, stinging nettle,
Its bloom blossoms full with blood?
Suddenly I hold in my hands a sword,
leather-wrapped handle soft in my firm grasp.
A beautiful and terrible beast, how many times
have you tasted blood on your lips? Its engraved blade,
as if in answer, gleams like ice in winter moonlight?
Suddenly I hold in my hands an orb,
my eyes brought down. Within I see spirits of evil floating,
whispering spells with flaming tongues. A slash of light
pierces the sphere's glassy surface, and they are gone.
But I was entranced with their mournful melodies?
Suddenly I hold in my hands a ring,
a smooth band of gold shimmering in firelight.
It is so beautiful: glossy circumference upon my finger.
No one shall touch it, no one shall have it, 'tis precious
to me. Its surface flickers like a fleeting, evil grin?
Suddenly I hold in my hands a mirror,
my visage yawning back at me as some monster
gapes, hoping to envelop its prey--myself. Disgusted,
I try to tear my gaze away, but it is nearly impossible--
I am obsessed with criticism and loathing?
Suddenly I hold in my hands a battered shield,
its silver tarnished with years of neglect. How
many noble faces have you frozen, transformed to
lifeless marble? You are a master of manipulation, for
Your dented surface shows only true nature?
Suddenly I hold in my hands a fallen autumn leaf,
fragile, rural awe that fades at slightest touch.
Dry and worn, no softness nor scent of rose petals,
yet no claws awaiting to stab an innocent, wondering soul.
No concealed weapons to detract from its beauty?
Suddenly I hold in my hands the light of a thousand stars.
Glittering and shining, they soar upward, becoming like
jewels woven into the velvet blackness of night, beacons
of hope shining eternal. They wink and laugh, seeming to
dart across the dark sea of the universe, smiling down?
My hands have held, felt, experienced, understood
all aspects of life and death, good and evil, truth and lies--
what masks! What dances, what melodies they weave!
With only a mere glance, a murmur, a shrug of a shoulder,
they are nothing?yet the world is captured in a single touch.
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