this elusive tick-tock

fitful and grown under feeble light, enough

to see, roaming wolves and fodder called

cornerstones of survival

and so, civilization simplified

life regressed

my tears are not worthy of this occasion

they laugh and refuse

threads hang loose

blind folk on the streets with blades

cut glass, cut more

black cats hiss on broken mirrors underfoot

temptations of arcana

two minds rebel, drawbridges slam shut,

the castle spun a few times, for irony

this world has not changed

but the mirror once flaming

is an old woman, anger weak

there is now a thin red line

cutting the chaos of fate within

and the fate of chaos without

kinship left, sympathy survived

I am just one pawn

on the empty chessboard

hop step two, step, step,

fair-game playing sweet-song

slow but sure, comes the other side

shadows materialize to make it a game,

the knights, the horses, the king-queen all