Disunity

Are there others like You?

When you read again the words you have written, your heart aches so suddenly and fiercely that it nearly drives you to weep. You have never needed words to understand your closest confidante, but here you have revealed something precious, shone light upon a flower that unfurls to drink in the color of your knowing.

When you dream that night, floating upon that endless dark sea and watching the stars, you see a meteor shower. You fall. You are pinned by innumerable blades — you are cut up into pieces, heart and all, and there is blood in the water around you, so vivid it pains you to see.

There is such a distance between yourself and your family, and it causes you to ache with the two hearts of your soul.

You see your mother amongst the snows, wearing your father’s mantle of wolf fur. She is hard-edged, forced to speak the language of swords.

You see your father in the garden, bending over in a chair that has been set for him. He ignores the servant and his cane to cradle the silver lilies for the first time.

You see Svetlana, beautiful Svetlana, forging while a towering shape watches her, hooded and veiled, too-long fingers crested in rings and talismans.

You plunge down into water and darkness. Into mystery. Into safety.

Your family is still out there.

My family is still out there.