Siha – sunset eyes defiant
in the scope – sunset hair blowing
free as Rakhana's sands - I wait here
for you, in – the sharp antiseptic
barely masks the scent of fear
and the slow death – the hope
of seeing you once
more, before I go to the sea.
.
Kolyat is with me – "Father," he says
and laughs, "shall we dance crazy?"
He has not grown
too old for this. But I have
not enough breath for dancing – often
we speak of Irikah, and sometimes
of you.
.
He believes it strange
that - human skin is vulnerable
to an assassin's arts. I knew
the many ways it permits death to enter.
But here, with her
under the dim starlight, I learn:
her skin, unscaled,
is softer than water, and darkens
with desire.
.
Arashu made her
so different from my kind. Her eyes
are small, unlovely, and her body
flares and curves
unpredictably. We move together
with no grace or certainty.
.
Hands which have taken lives
mine, hers
touch gently
.
and we learn. Born
half a galaxy apart, nevertheless
we are similar enough to love,
to steal a night of joy
out of time's swift march
.
and not for a moment
would I wish her drell
or myself human
.
- I should love
again and one so different
from Irikah. He is too young
yet, to recognise you,
siha – glorious as the Reaper
falls, as she soars
to the shuttle and I catch her
against me, safe.
.
We rarely part
until she leaves me
at the Citadel, and goes
to face her people, to be disciplined
like an erring child, and to warn them
again.
.
I wait, and die
day by day, each breath
more elusive
than the last, and more worthwhile -
.
- Solipsism
comes too easily.
Find me soon, siha. I would
spend the last of my life
real, with you.