Though she be but little, she is fierce – William Shakespeare
“Softly softly lay thy head
Down upon thy cotton bed
Sleep now sleep now child of mine
Guarded by the Hand Divine
Let thy mind now wander free
Through the autumn apple-trees
Light upon the boat so small
Row on down the waterfall
Drift on down the living stream
Set thy bow for the Ocean’s dream.”
(Cortos is a fictional country in my most recent novel Tears and a Starlit Sky)
A Child for the King
I remember when I was born. Distant, and yet, barely a day ago. Sometimes when I lay in the desert sun, breathing in heat and coughing out sand, running my long fingers over my aching wounds, and chanting the prayers of healing, I long for the womb from which I came. It was all warm and wet darkness in the womb and I dwelt within it, existing without purpose yet satisfied with my life. But then it broke. Rocking and confused, dizzying tumbling around in the darkness groping at the bumpy walls, then brilliant light streaming through cracks.
Continue reading “An unfinished experiment with narration”Dawn is coming,
Hail her with bows
Dawn is running
Through the fields of cows
Here comes Dawn
With pink tresses glowing
Here comes Dawn
Like fire every growing
Welcome to the show,
Come on stage, little star!
(Welcome to the show)
Dance to our guitar
Crouching down and setting Nika between my legs, I grabbed Rurik’s jaw and pried his mouth open. Putting three fingers into his mouth I fished out the body of a bug—no, spider?—and discarded it.
Continue reading “Tears and a Starlit Sky, chapter 2: Endless Walking”My tiara slid forward, tilting into my eyes, and I regretted not having cast it aside earlier. Shaking my head, I threw it off. Metal clanged against rock somewhere below, an echoing sound which seemed three times as loud as I had expected. Shaking, I struggled to find another handhold on the rocky cliffside. My hand found a sharp outjunt and I grabbed it, pain blooming in my hand. With a gasp I yanked my hand back and tried not to cry as warm blood ran down my palm and dripped onto my pink summer dress. Closing my eyes, I took a couple deep breaths, then opened them and slowly began climbing, ignoring the stinging pain from the gash as it was pressed into dirty rock.
Continue reading “Tears and a Starlit Sky, chapter 1: To Endless Wilds”by Zahur
Ra-ta-ta-tah! Rain on the pavement, rain in the street
Falling in sheets across the grey brick city, autumn’s tears
Gently waters the dying fields of gold-brown wheat
And washes away the scars and toils of the passing years
Bringing the taste of musting life and soft earth sweet
Dance! Dance! Cold bruised feet across wet concrete
In the falling rain, with the tears so cold
Cool to the skin and nourishing to the soul
Wash away the heartache, sooth the stinging feet
In the dusking evening autumn does control
by Zahur
Trodding, plodding, every step a fight against survival
Every step a searing pain, betrayed by mother earth
Every blow against the back, and unrelenting trial
The unrelenting fight to take her very worth
To strip her to her bones, to take her dearest smile
Her humanity, it wavers, she gives a little cry
To the ground she tumbles, to lay there, and to die
The whip it is relentless, mercy here a foreign word
Shall she give up now? Her screams, are they unheard?
The only currently found fragment of Zahur’s poem in tribute Lady Wisdom.
Continue reading “to lady wisdom”MissionSparrow: You know how miserable it is watching other people suffer from mental illnesses? Watching them struggle to get through each day, struggle to contain their pain, struggle to be the person everyone expects them to be, it’s hard. It hurts. And it takes its toll on you eventually. Enjoy.
Continue reading “give her back”