Shimmer-Before Shimmer
Another poem, of course, this one for Shimmer-before Shimmer.
-Agla
Before you read on
we think we should warn you
that this probably isn’t
what it appears.
It might be of course
because nothing is certain
but if you were dreaming
this was a beginning-
or even a prologue
then you were mistaken
because this was woven
a long time ago.
It might have begun
in the snows of the mountains
where two weary children
found dragonfire’s warmth
or it might have begun
not quite so far off
as a ship of the skies
swooped down to the still lands
or it might have begun
with the planets still cooling
and powers unnamed
moving swift past the stars.
It might have begun
any number of places
but we’ve got to tell you-
that’s just an illusion
the truth is, you see
there are no beginnings-
equally no ends.
So if you were thinking
to pity the captured
the doomed and the damned
don’t start crying yet
because even when bodies
are long-worn to dust
the soul is still shining
and every story’s
not prologue or sequel
but the big main event!
All of the fireworks
are here and now always
there’s no other place.
So we would request
that you do not assume
it will all end in tears
and blackness and darkness
for there’s breath in our bodies
and light on the mountains
our souls are still shining
and we are still here.