The Book Of Night - Eleven Poem by Daniel Brick

(IX)

Orpheus

The whole Night I spent searching
for you within the four walls of Sleep.
I sang the Song of Love,
the shining ebony walls parted, and
my body floated above the bottomless floor
of Sleep. Although my eyes were closed,
I saw clearly every object clinging to
its own nightspace, fearful that
a random light shaft might loosen its grip,
and it would fall down the vast vertical
length of Night... I searched
the Eight Chambers of Sleep, shared by
the living and the dead in the Night Realm.
Only the Fourth I avoided where creatures
that hate humanity lurk in readiness.
In two chambers I sensed your recent presence,
traces of color and sound still came to
my senses. In the awesome sobriety
of this dark realm, I was intoxicated
by this awareness. My resolve was as tight
as a stretched bow, and the arrow of expectation
was released. It showed me a path to the Fifth
Chamber. No further magic flight aided me.
I had to climb the high plateau of this immense
chamber. An exhausted man reached the top,
refreshed only by the ambiguous night air
swirling around me. But you were not there...
I slid down the opposite slope into
the sloshy ground between Chambers Six and Seven.
In the turgid air, I saw our spiritual rival,
Melatron, siting on his golden throne. Even in his
disgracehis beauty is startling. He knows me, but
he greets only those who stoop to beg for his unholy
help. Your image shining in my mind, swelling
in my heart, gave me the strength, and I left him
in his regal solitude. I arrived at the hinterlands
of the Eighth Chamber and witnessed a dire sight:
a burning lake or river sent columns of fire
into the blank sky, sucking out breathable air.
I knew my journey was over, my quest for you
once again frustrated. But do not be sad for me:
every step I take brings me closer to you, and
in time you too will take a Night Journey toward me.
We may, on one of these nights which stretch
before us without end, cross paths in a paroxysm of joy.