Personal Mythology

I was asked to write a personal mythology.

I. 

Open your eyes,

Take in the harsh lights, 

Feel the starlight bathing your body 

And the rhythmic drumming in your chest 

That isn't echoed back to you any more. 

Now scream. 

Scream so you know you’re not drowning, 

Scream so you know you can breathe, 

Scream until they beg you to stop, 

Scream. 

You’re alive.

IV. 

Find a mirror and fall in love 

With the image you see staring back. 

A foot taller and wiser, tell the 

Mirror it made something incredible 

And terrifying. 

Offer the mirror your blood on a cut palm 

And take the blood offered in return. 

The mirror image is you, 

You are the mirror image. 

There’s no separation any more. 

You’re alive.

VIII. 

Lie on your back, waiting for the world 

To go dark while the echo of your heartbeat hammers 

Against the walls and the blood in your veins 

Beats it into submission. 

Claw your way into the fight and scream. 

Remember how your lungs were built for this, 

How you did not drown, 

How you learnt to use this.  

You’re alive.

XIV.

Your heartbeat hammers but there’s no echo 

As you watch the ichor drain from 

The wounds in your mirror image. 

Grasp it tight, don’t let go, not even 

When they pry you bloody from the corpse. 

Hold on to the mirror,

Slash yourself on the shards. 

Forget how to speak, 

Scream into the night.

You’re dead.