to the angel of fallen winds, sovereign of the house of deneb:

for all the undying intake of breath
for the delicate ruin of epochs
over the slow stretch of time, aed eidon—
the loss was absolute
forgive me those trespasses, ancient
forgive me for having simply wept, facedown

in echoed times and echoed spaces
in deepnight when (between the stars)
our bodies would freeze and fall as snow
of the annunaki shiver-form
at heaven's gates; the doors of aidon
and we wait for that holy light to warm our sails

here you find me, ice and blood
and the sleeping strings of potential energy
ice and cold rain. heavenly god,
i have waited for so long. from rain to snow
and rain to ember—rays of light to matter-form;
please grant safe passage

and the far cry, that echoing hollowhaunt
these spaceborne waves
such is the return call:
parsecs and light years, endings and beginnings
it is the old earth—new again—
the fertile earth of the aadh and ten thousand songs


to the angel of memory, sovereign of the house of pbasus:

it has been told that i found you in the tombs of the sky-kings;
these are the first stories. and yet before this, an older truth.
quietly uncoiled—a careful universe revealed in secret
for we have not seen, but we have known;
we walked through all time
like pools of rain on the ground, deep in thought

and memories of times past we hold sacred, close enough
to feel that all heartbeats are not our own
that the steady pulse over all the years
(the noise of countless worlds)
is the whole of every living heart:
epochs and ages. beginnings and endings

hear me, arch-aidon: so much was lost of these things
so many rainswept tears for each passing love
so many "please don't go"
and now in the space of a single breath
the crushing weight of all things suddenly,
the unbearable. please lift me

may the flow of time make us whole,
for once we were; for every peak and valley,
a level ground. for every wound, a healing
and with those quiet winds;
there is solace in the interstices,
in the lattice of spacetime and the wash of magnetic fields


to the angel of deep space, sovereign of the house of obilon:

i did not mean to be found wandering
in the unknown regions—in the ink between galaxies.
distance became meaningless
but you were merciful and spared me from entropy;
you were merciful,
and my atoms were not unbound

while dark and impossible swept the void
the shine-black surfaces
unscarred and absolute
still deep in the malevolent loneliness
in my bed of charged particle streams (tenuous and invisible)
this core of heart-metal swells to glowing

it is a crushing wave of homesick, borne on cosmic filaments
cast from the abyssal titans,
it is a flood of undoing:
i am awake and dying, awake and alive
to take breath in a sea of motion;
that in this rush of current i am spacefold, powerless

to stay above, to look down from high orbit
on some forest thaw in spring
once static and shell-shocked, hung on high
i take account of my days, racked with guilt and regret
i—mortal—bleed like ruin and heather
in the cloudspheres of my home



+



to the angel of the airs, sovereign of the house of adaon:

for a time it seemed
as if my heavenbound skin detected
not even the slightest vibration in the collapsed magnetic fields;
a graveyard world, untimely and disparate,
in a tragic channel around the sun
for a time it seemed as if nothing would stir

and you were there, saying nothing
as i hung from the tree of life
for nine days. you were there as my
ember-eyes streamed flame and ash
anah ayeweh—do not forsake me! but as i turn
to the still of earth: the faint hum of waking life

i stretch my hands toward the airs below
the withering shell, and come down
through the clouds like rain
through crushing bow shock to desolation. | impact:
for each shattered continent, a broken heart
for each "i love you" never spoken out loud, a star has fallen

i may have died there, after all these things
even now i remember still glowing from reentry
still ablating the heart-strewn;
after all unable to stand. but looking heavenward—
(through the flickering of a heavy atmosphere
and finer quantum striations) you remain


to the angel of mended hearts, sovereign of the house of polymor:

i wake in the warmth of memory fragmentation
in the stains of blood-on-grass
and here the ache returns, the timeless scourge
my dreams in the horizon gate, at the edge of earth:
dreams of gold and ivory, steel and bone
a reverent stirring—

the sphere-music swells from a profound depth
and my body is electric, absolute
charged by sky-crossed lightning
and raindrops like hammers
on anvil-skin, on blasted earth
the indomitable current of love/power

my dearest friend, long have i been away!
understand this, if nothing else;
know how things were meant to be
through all strife and war, this desperate silence
i am held in the crush of all history
soaked in rain with you here at the end

and the clouds are breaking as i glance to the west
and again to the east, swift and sudden:
a flash from the sun, as it both rises and sets
this immutable earth, strong with magic,
leys and axes. i am steeped in the glow
of a half life stretching to infinity


to the angel of the halls of time, sovereign of the house of abenon:

for all the force of strong goodbyes
and the severed, sundered hearts
over the slow stretch of time,
the crawl of sad centuries
all these things i will never forget, and you
may never remember

this is hallowground, spring/winter, heart of summer
a wasteland crumbling away to new life
as above our cold bodies the stars
would freeze and fall as snow
throughout the march of many sorrows
and upon the angry plates of our planet's crust

and here you find me unchanged, changed at the end
i am at the beginning, i am ancient and strange
ana annaku, shepherd of anu
look down on us tonight/outside of time
hand-in-hand, facing the sky; for all futures—
please grant safe passage

and the endless ache, that echoing hollowhaunt
these spaceborne waves
such is the way of things:
parsecs and light years, endings and beginnings
it is the old earth—new again—
the fertile earth of the aadh and ten thousand songs