Tempted to find you
Shards. Shattered glass. And sand.
Kneeling in the dust, skimming palms over coarse grains that cannot be felt through thick leather gloves. Sheathe on back. Sword on shoulders. Eyes fixed on the ground. Still as the stone all around.
Waiting.
A prickle of pain; unguarded fingers strike sharp edges. A missing fragment. One in a million. Never all to be found, but never all to be lost, either. Lifted. Held close to the heart. Thinking your face is within. Or maybe your tears.
Crying. You are. We both are, despite hundreds of things separating us.
Down on skinned knees. Bowing. Praying to the gods. Wishing you were here. Not knowing what lies beneath my eyes. Not knowing why.
Granted. Unappreciated. You never know what you've got until it's gone. Everything. Everything is here. Everything is broken. There is no dawn beyond the twilight if the darkness and light are separated. Clean souls are tainted, dark hearts are permeated with a lack of vengeance.
Peace is born once more
Home lies in a place beyond all human reckoning, in a realm where everything is distorted…reflections within reflections, shadows that overlap and dance and evade the light. There. Maybe you are, or maybe you aren't. Maybe you've faded, or grown stronger. Maybe you've moved on.
Maybe…
I…
Shards. Shattered glass. Everywhere. Hundreds within the thousands, thousands within the millions, and so forth. Decades could come, and linger, and fade, and they would never all be found. It is difficult to piece together a fragmented mirror…but it is even more challenging to reform a life once lived.
Home. Unknown. A place of no worth and no value. Things are learned in the gap where knowledge falls away and the heart takes over. To bear a mark of courage is not to assure one sports it. Fighting takes courage…letting go takes death…the death of one part that cannot be reconnected with simple paste.
Sun rides high; clouds shoulder aside blue sky. Rise. Wipe palms on tunic and stare upwards. Wonder what the heavens look like on the other side. Close fist over shard of glass. Silently, promise. Swear.
What once was always will be.
Raise free hand; light glimmers on slight trail of blood on fingers. Place palm to the disk of the sun. Swear. Swear upon it.
Clench.
A promise made, never to be broken.
Someday, it will be so again.
Twilight and daylight will merge again, for they are only half when separated. Life and light will be born back into the land.
A hero is only a fragment without that which makes him whole. For while it takes the sun to create a reflection, it takes a shadow to sustain it…