i define the Past as Now & forever in my Heart - MAGGIE HAO '28

[1] preach an ode to once again

[2] reach

past the golden abyss,

towards the edge

of summer’s visceral embrace:

where we were Few

perhaps Singular;

in a World engulfed

in a curtain of Binary

[3] for the echoing Past

that forsook you;

You blackbird;

my vestige,

You reek of cinders;

acidic Herbicides aiming

to pluck vitality off the tree of sin

and draw the noose

that shapes your undoing

into our twin fruits

into our twin hearts

into our ultraviolet stars

so you choke up the juice of Immaturity

[4] as it reaches

autumn once more

burying the torrid fires beneath rusting leaves

where embers jostle you

[5] forward until

life slumbers

in wait for next tomorrow.

rehearse the promise to renew

another yesterday composed of

[6] remnants of Memory

that gnaw at statues

of burning clay

mold ash to ash anew.

mourning the future;

weeds in a garden of Orchids

Pruned as

winged petals,

Clipped;

let our dust

[7] scatter

until

we will embrace each other

against crumbling walls

of Inertia

[8] as You run onwards to [1]