Semi-Random Reflections

Read time: 1 min.

In a cavern sealed with anthracite,
oil sizzling in your eyes,
you discern two serpents spitting light 
for rocky shadows staging blurry Faust.
Ain’t a sight but what you see.
You can’t see but what you know,
And you don’t know how much you know.
Whether you see aught, you'll have to see. 

One serpent constricts your neck.
It shrieks at your left ear:
“Gotta rave about that shadow show;
clenchin's gonna break your hyoid bone.”
Its twin constructs your waist.
It shrieks at your right ear:
“You know I know you know, Dear Heart,
holding back’s the highest art.
Them pigs don’t want your pearls, Kid;
your dearest gift would get you bit.”

You’ve got them snakes for legs.
A backwards face emerges from your skull
with a beak to peck them serpents' heads.

An empty stage outside the cavern.
Your toes catch splinters from the planks.
A spotlight’s got you spotted now.
Your only face faces a sea of seated faces.
Ain’t no script but what you say.

You might just need them snakes.