Averno
Canto II
Averno, lead us
The rapacious lake
A figment conjured up by ancient lore
Through thee we come alive
Thus
Let us
Pass
The test we’ve been committed to
Nobody’s sons, nobody’s daughters
We wade in dire waters
Will we still sing the hymns of yore?
Asterion, the star-crossed Minotaur
and Arthur, the woe-be-gone
The cacophony of Asterion’s hooves
Was the only sound to listen to
Gone are the days
When we idly sat out on the lawn
Singing Lana del Rey all day long
Fated to fester and get purged in this hell
We deserted that cocoon called soul
Our eyes were soaked in tears
Reality seeped in broken images
To understand is to lose perfection
The deeper in the part, the farther the whole
There’s no time to sulk or dwell on these earthly matters
There He is
Minos, Salvatore, The Aegean King
was sitting on a throne of stone
As Persephone and Lilith made for him
We stopped a few inches away
Asterion was itchy, fur flaking off her skin
My tamarisk dress felt heavier than ever
He then stood up
Beckoning us to come nearer
(At the sight of him
even a Greek statue would blush)
Arthur, let’s go
Finally ye are crossing the threshold
My daughter, my son
In my manly breasts I shall warm ye up
Verdant meadows will hail ye no more
and so will Spring
Ye shall become Silence
Whispering to the ears of deaf men
Ye shall achromatize and turn into shadows
Secretly descrying the fall of humankind
Asunder ye shall be torn
Voicelessly from yer lips only seven letters shall be distilled
R-E-B-I-R-T-H
Son, daughter
Hope ye don’t fail me again
Thy scars prove my unquenchable desire
Disciple of the stars, my prince hubristic
You took my features, a beast hedonistic
Yer journey has just begun
Will ye move on or fall back to the start?
Father, why hast thou forsaken me?
I have never failed thee
The cross you made me bear is heavy
These horns screams for thy blood
This body is deformed
I thought Ariadne spun threads to bond, to let me see the sun rise
but she only spun threads that led to my demise
Why? Why, Father?
I’ve long forgotten thee
But I’ll never forgive thee
I am the Lord of suffering
Persephone started to dance gently
Lilith was laughing frantically
All the amorphous homunculi gathered around us
Here’s thy chance my daughter, my son
Suddenly a hole opened in the wall
It sucked us in, we were thrusted into the whiteness
All those earthly Beauties unfolded around us
For a fleeting moment it felt like home, Arcadia
but then
Wires sprouted from everywhere
Warped our bodies and plugged into a black screen
Convert yourselves into files
Upload your mind
And back it up on a drive
If you yearn to stay alive
Unplug and ye shall be deleted permanently
Biology turns nugatory
Consciousness is no longer mandatory
Forgo the bodies, forgo the brains
Averno, the journey to a new salvation
A land of Gods and Monsters
The evanescence of the flesh shall never be witnessed again
Where will it lead us?
