Sestina! And you thought I'd stopped these.
Oh my God, this is the angstiest sestina ever. NEIL GAIMAN MADE ME DO IT.


The world has turned to black and all is dark
Here on the edge, my mind is lost, ragged
Edges torn and drifting loose as fire
My hope is broken, sorrow that lifted never
Swarms and turns me into solemn screaming
And all of this because I chose a kiss.

You stare at me, and laugh, and say, “A kiss?
For just a kiss your world’s become so dark?
You foolish child, there’s more in life than screaming.”
When sweetness has betrayed a heart so ragged
From early heartbreaks, and the hope will never
Return from quiet mourning in the fire,

Why yes! Then I will live amidst the fire,
My mind obsessed with memr’y of a kiss,
My body closed, my heart submerged to never
Rise again from where its hope is dark.
How can you tell me, you whose soul is ragged
That I should stop my loud and silent screaming?

For have you thought, just once, that all my screaming
Keeps me sane, and safe amid the fire?
Though I may wear my heart and soul to ragged
Bits and pieces, still I love a kiss.
Though I have gone eyes open into dark,
Still would I not decide upon “never.”

Never! Never! Such a word is never.
To say that I will never stop the screaming,
To say that I will never leave the dark,
To say that I will never touch the fire.
For I have known the glory of a kiss,
And never is a word whose heart is ragged.

I walk today upon the edge so ragged,
I turn my face away from all the never,
Trust and betrayal both upon a kiss
And a voice that only knows the screaming.
And yet, and yet, I do so love the fire;
Perhaps someday I’ll walk out of the dark.

You do not kiss, you do not like the ragged
Edge of dark where worlds reject the never.
But I in screaming will embrace the fire.


I'm particularly fond of the fifth stanza, but hey.

Also, submitted More Things In Heaven to the Most Awesome Market Ever... wish me luck! *crosses fingers*