Terra, Conclusion

The conclusion (Part 4) of a long-form poem.

Earlier instalments:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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Terra X

Europe lay in luminous ruins, 
As I climbed Heracles' Pillar.
Ascending one corner of the west,
Alone, Dante having left me to terra.

At the peak, I looked to the north-east.
The chill air cleared and grew thin,
Susceptible to strange warmth of light.

Faraway, Lac de Genève glimmered,
Casting clusters of shine on the
The distant green of the Black Forest.

Shining across, perpendicular
To my line of vision, north-west
From Mount Carmel to Skellig Michael
A sword cut through, past to present.

Present to past, I soared into this cross
The rocky pillar falling from my feet;
While light thinned into starry darkness.

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Terra XI

Sailing across a devastated
World-island, from pillar to cross,
The same stars Dante saw upon 
His guided return to the bright world
From below, shone upon my face.

I dropped down, where Caesar had subdued
Ancient Helvetians, ancestors,
Of mine, slipped through fractures of time.
I searched for others, east and west,

Where the sword cut through the line of light.
The continent was bandaged in gloom,
A sabbath rest from sacrilege.

On the other side of the grey lake,
I saw the forest, blurred in dream.

It was time to go back, to go home.
I swam across the dark waters;

Melted snow chilled me to the marrow.

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Terra XII

Meet me in a dream, find me again.
I am waiting here, for you, for the end. 
Rising from the shore, I entered 
The old forest, the old midpoint.

Dante's shadow rounded a grove,
Where a dusky cave stood, expectant,
Carved from strangely shaped stone
Fearsome, longed for, quiet, still.

A bridge from terra to terra.
The world is deeper than the day thought.
The cup wants to become empty again,
Chaos, the seed of dancing stars, calls.

To what last hope does the divinity drive us?
Not a thunderbolt, not a chariot,
No whirlwind, but a simple passing,
A passage back to the land we always knew.

A quiet home on a leafy street,
A view from a lamplit window,
A white road past a fenced garden,
The unconscious gravity of a girl.

Eyes opening.
Sheets stained with sunlight.

I left some trace for you.

END

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Earlier instalments:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3