somniat 21: a festival of stars

somniat 21: a festival of stars

The light is so bright
it blinds us;
it hits one spot first,
and then another over there,
and then one more,
and then yet another –
until the entire room
bounces and glistens
with sparkles and gleams;
so much light
down here so deep,
it’s as if world had turned
inside out.

Ah, and what we see,
everywhere up on that ceiling
that has lain so black for so long
is now nothing
but bright, shimmering, capricious stars
that float and burn in a multitude of colors,
chartreuse and teal,
gamboge and ecru,
azure and cyan,
amaranth and crimson,
magenta and cerise –
blinding out the blackness;
and these stars, they dance;
they caper across an infinite space
in a joyful frolic, a prance –
not just above us
but all around us,
an endless milky way of stars;
so that even the wingless dragonflies
stop ventilating
and their nervous trigger fingers
relax.

And I see it there,
a constellation that strums
the strings of my heart
and plays a tune
in the form of angel;
a secret message
that points me toward
the promenade,
so that now I know
where she’s gone.

I’m not really so far,
and there’s still a small crack in the shutters,
so with everyone looking up,
I slip back, a few steps,
and then a few steps more,
and then I’m through,
and then I’ve shut the final shutter,
and then I’m alone
in the promenade
that slopes up
toward where my angel
has gone.

• somniat 44: angel in waiting
• somniat 43: clippings
• somniat 42: up
• somniat 41: the girl from the men's room
• somniat 40: the general
• somniat 39: where naked angels weep
• somniat 38: devils
• somniat 37: ... and now you are dead
• somniat 36: the dry well
• somniat 35: the grotto
• somniat 34: passages iii
• somniat 33: passages ii
• somniat 32: passages i
• somniat 31: home
• somniat 30: between fate and destiny, part ii
• somniat 29: between fate and destiny, part i
• somniat 28: can you run?
• somniat 27: the lolling tongue
• somniat 26: what the gargoyle saw
• somniat 25: chrysocolla
• somniat 24: heat
• somniat 23: parousiamania
• somniat 22: basalt and ebony
• somniat 21: a festival of stars
• somniat 20: a standoff
• somniat 19: wingless dragonflies
• somniat 18: an exchange between lawyers
• somniat 17: the old cinema
• somniat 16: through the vent
• somniat 15: out and into
• somniat 14: a decision in retrospect
• somniat 13: trust
• somniat 12: utterly beautiful
• somniat 11: spotted
• somniat 10: the men's room
• somniat 9: through the alcove iii
• somniat 8: through the alcove ii
• somniat 7: through the alcove i
• somniat 6: the mountain
• somniat 5: the change
• somniat 4: fear
• somniat 3: numbers
• somniat 2: in shadows
• somniat 1: a place underground