Virago

Featured artwork by L.H. Grey

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Björk “Army of Me”

This is me
I am aware of precisely who I am
Aware of precisely how far I hath come
Never less than mindful of the journey undertaken
to reach the place I stand now
Brave and Defiant

Ever thankful am I to the universe
for discerning my cries when it appeared I was forsaken
Out of devastating loss, mine glory hath awakened
Through excruciating pain, mine faith it doth remain ever constant
Entirely unshaken

So very much hath been taken from me
In a manner overreaching tasteless
Such ruination endured
Lessons learned the hard way
Begging me to question what be that I hold most sacred
Then providing me the answers through way of tenfold epiphany
Each granting one wish to me

Gifting me signs every time my eyes grow tired
Drowning each sorrow
from the deepest blue sea of misery within me
It hath delivered me here
To this very space and this very time
The place I doth stand now
Overwhelmed but not discouraged
Attuned to real self and not lacking courage

I made myself the most solemn of oaths
At the twelfth sorrowful chime of my souls darkest hour
To empower my insurgency
against the facts of life that strived solely to murder me

The world it doth turn like a rotiserrie
Serpentine tongues they still hiss at me
Spit at me
Hell bent on smiting me with spiteful lament
Howbeit, these snakes in the husk of the mortal know not how to frighten me
For I hath before made these charlatans repent
Made each one my slave
And shalt do so once again

Hath travelled many cycles of the moon
to arrive here
Come such a long way
to this faraway place
Still a ways yet to go
No allusion plays spectre to mine judgement this or any other fine day
For I hath seen mine own triumph
mapped out through manner of boundless constellation
Each star a wish to be made and in waiting
Deep in mine soul no other option doth exist
I shalt make this so
Just as has been fated

Wearing mine wisdom like contemplative robes
Ever hungering and studious
To all that which is salubrious to mine affirmative growth
That which doth not suppose
That which aptly made me its pupil
While the bitter winds did harry and blow
Godforsaken are all those who walk these garden rows
This holy decree I find pitiless and spurious
To the universe my transcendental spirit is to the finite betrothed
For tis here I am home
And I know where home is now

Mine liberty it hath not one quiver
Brave and Defiant I stand
With mercy and kind I shalt deliver
Hath been marched straight through hell
Promenaded down a path
And this left-handed course had a most terse narrative to tell
Mine blood it simmered with indiscreet rage
As the angels in my rearmost view
Their faces did then change

I would have bled them to the bleach of their hollow little bones
Had I been inclined that way
Taken the measures of a warrior scorned
Taken to task every last false prophet whose scripture commanded atonement
Dethronement of a deity I never cared for greatly
Should he truly be love, then why pray tell doth the almighty so hate me?
More critically, need I raise my blade in indignation?
After all,
Twas the dark lord alone who proposed mine eventual postponement

I am of Spartan origin
No question mine blood doth run freely and red
Hath been put to the sword
Hath been callously bled
Hath been taken with undue force
Deprived of remorse as I succumbed to a plethora of harrowing deaths
Howbeit, my head doth not drop
As I stand at the concourse of a Citadel almighty
Brave and Defiant
Yet, unsurrendered of mine softness

The world tis plagued by the blight of the sightless
Yet still, each fine day
I am more me than the sun which preceded
Being honour bred, I was required to taste the red grape of defeat
Stand firm on the balls of my feet
And build with bare hands an impervious alliance

Confederate, we rise
With Cimmerian shade underwriting the very blackest of coals
Shall not be denied the landslide beholden to our souls
Fearless we stride forth
United for the voiceless
The uninvited
A militia self-reliant in entirety
Standing a thousand men tall on this uneven ground
Brave and Defiant

And, as for my own personal plight
Well…
I am better
I am stronger
My chalice doth brim with foresight
I recline in an idyllic horizon
One of mine souls own design
Primed to savour life with those I hold beloved
as opposed to survive it
Transcendental of human skin
As there exists a whole universe within
Once we let it be seen

This is me
Exceeding awareness of precisely who I am and what I shalt become
Aware of precisely how far I hath traveled
Never any less than wholly mindful of the epic journey undertaken
Never any less than sempiternally bound to any others who hath been forsaken
Who hath elected to take the very same path
to reach the place we stand now
At the concourse of a Citadel almighty
Brave and Defiant