[Split]

Before Oceans, There Was Nothing but Rain


resilience and wonder swallow men whole.
left in the labyrinth- dismantle catacombs.
minotaur. a synthesis of sublimity and sciences' cogs,
its ticking footsteps, sleeping ambiance, solemn thought.
it the faint unknown entranced in every absolute. contaminant.
secrets and candlelit percussion of bones and mirage.
preserve history from receding in chanting death's monologue.

a scholar archaeologist, trapped between gut and enterprise.
cold, foreboding, basking in a city mummified.
abandoned as if on a whim, a metropolis once sprawling
flooded by its tragic flaw. deities turned their back,
a curse enacted by holy law's decree for safety of them all.
brushing through algae disintegrating as it comes to light.
focused on the digsite, the obliterated faith in city walls. wrath of the gods.
medusa oblongata- came to the crawling Caesar's call, he-
armed with endless tendrils of truth, ink in his blood- fights flight.
curious, in hindsight... the filthy mud hasn't quite yet settled in these centuries.
outside the manuscripts. who, what stalked these ancient fantasies?
the final antechamber, the scholar reaches in the dark

-drip-

sinking sediment of cancer, bleeding liquid fear into this tomb,
PRESSURE splitting typhoon booming instrument of doom.
running through water from impending echolocation,
peripherals dripping black death crescendo's in his visor's casing.
Diving in and out of blindness, intervals of mental panic,
he reached the edge and stepped too quick for viscous antics

here at the relic's limits his eyes come to rest.
aquatic cosmonaut with a cracked helmet, smiles at the end.
it seems we've reached an impasse, cause and effect,
and breathes in with a silent gasp....

with wonderment comes ease. and ease comes discontent.
ease to complacency, makes breathing another habit.
practice stands until its questioned. the enemy is the premise.
even in long stagnant waters, decay persists.
it begins and ends with a single

drip