Work Text:
an orange sky
a blackened sun
hanging like a glare
an epitaph
an empty throne
a most unwilling heir
the stuff of souls
the driving fire
that bids the world continue
it could be stoked
if you had more
than rage and pride within you
the world wanes
and not a tear
is gathered on your lashes
you'd see a trolley hit the five,
see Omelas in ashes
they wrote you up
a fiction with
their needs in upper case
exactly what you owe
to crowds that
never knew your face
pretend it is your duty!
pretend you are their king!
treat them all like people as
they treat you like a thing!
the logic that
their lives have worth
is why they want you dead
but isn't your blood
more than wine?
your body more than bread?
true sacrifice
is given, you
were raised up like a harvest
and when you were
more pit than fruit
they claimed you fell the farthest
reality is
fading fast, and
time melts like a glacier
you prove your life
was equal, make
them equals in erasure
champions
among them try
to take what won't be offered
your head was meant
for sneering, not
for sitting in their coffers
there's really nothing
for you at
this ending of your tether
you get to be
the one voice, though,
that told them to do better
you get to know
when judgments came
screaming or in silence
you knew to leave
them to their tales
and hate it all as violence
you get to see
the strength of you
to keep the faith, in tatters
you get to watch
yourself be loved
by those who truly matter
there's really nothing
for you, only
everything to gain
a clawing back
of dignity
with dues of stubborn pain
the fading fire
will flicker out
you will not be remembered
and still
you will not ever yield
to dogged,
cruel
contenders