The Rage of Achilles

I found a shooting starfish where the land meets sky and sea

Beneath the burning walls of Ilium at the dawn of history

And the enlightening in the East lit him and solicited a sigh,

“Please, leave me here to die

For I’ve no wish to live outside my place in time.”

Every answer breeds a question and another still besides

Like a runaway reaction sparked by neutrons who collide

And foster further reckless bodies bent more or less on love and lust and loss-

They know not the cost

But are bound to shoot and spin

Release their fervor on a whim

And do the very best they can with what they’ve got

To plunge the whole damn world into chaos

And in the seconds now before the light cascades

All the land is gripped by a sudden, fearful silence

Though unsure quite why or how it seems on any given day

That the sun might rise and shine a bit too brightly

Lovers cling to one another’s forms too tightly

A mortal take the threat of death too lightly

And in this moment when all of existence,

Are holding their collective breaths’ expense

I feel nothing but the weight of what

Drives this world yet of which I have no sense

The conductor grins as the world just spins

Twirls and pirouettes with great suspense

What the future holds no one knows

But it’s likely just one final change of tense

Oh, I…

Oh, I…

Oh! To be a wave rolling toward the shore

Whose only act is self-destruction; to advance with one great cry of war

And break upon the land, then slowly, softly, subtly slip away

So gently she’ll decay

All but forgotten in the ensuing wave’s display.