Where Demons Tread

Past Lives: Civil War

When men go off to war
Women are left foraging

Endurance gets worn down
Tilling earth to make viable

Farms collapse in absence of
Continuous manual exertions

For growing fruits and vegetables
And tending livestock on all levels

Women gravid with babies pray
The other women can find them

Doctors are off tending soldiers
Leaving the rare herbal midwife

The cost of bloodshed goes beyond
Brave lives lost in fields of violence

Family left behind is vulnerable
Exposed to marauder slaughter

Where Demons Tread

Filament

“When I think of the struggles I’ve been through, brought to new levels by still trying to recover from that accident, it is difficult to feel self worth in overcoming.

I managed to get my youngest their car and moved out into their own life; i have networked for resources and kept housing despite being unable to work; and I have attended school and completed a certificate – though this term I’m likely not passing.

I think of all of the slippage that I’m now encountering in my ability to bridge gaps in a life full of enforced ramping demands for hyperachieving just to maintain basic life survival – and feel somehow targeted to fail.

Maybe this is just the path of an innovator, of someone who doesn’t fit into the system because they are capable of greater contributions.

But it makes me cognizant of how fragile the stability in all of our lives really is when I keep getting pushed again and again to fall off of the edge of any briefly acquired security.

It reminds me of when I was a young child and would escape to go sit on my low front yard fence away from everyone, safely poised on that line for a few, very long minutes – disengaged while staring into the face of Nothing.

It’s like I never recovered.

I’m still just a fragile wisp in fhe wind.”

Alex (An Ideal)

Come Away With Me – A Lullaby

By Athena Stairs, August 30, 2019

Close your eyes and dream of better things
Close your eyes and find your inner wings

Soar among the stars, follow where your heart carries you
Soar among the stars, don’t be afraid to own your truth

Come away with me to where you want to be
Come away with me, I’ll be there gladly with you

Come away with me, my darling do
Come away with me, I love you

Fly among the stars with me
Seek for where your soul is free

Do not fear what you see around you
Trust what’s inside to guide you

Come away with me, up above the world
Come away with me – you do not need to fear

All that really matters is that we’re here together
Know that where you are, I’m always near

Sleep…sleep and rest your heart
Sleep…we are not far apart

Lay your worries down upon the soft pillow
They will be there if you choose, tomorrow

Come away with me – where the leaves are falling
And the birds are calling you home to me

Come away with me…I love you
And that’s all you need to know

https://soundcloud.com/user-213139500/come-away-a-lullaby-1st-draft-2019-08-30-19-33-03

—-

(Repost from August 7, 2021 – first time captured raw, contact me for permissions)

Underground

Infinite Baths

She could hear him near
Drifting gently, splashing

Happily singing to himself
Relaxed, so did not disturb

But thanked gods gratefully
Her soul full of love for him

As worry resolved into tears
She had not known she held

While praying for his safety
With his emergence, exhaled

Feeling triumph elevated by his
Rapture’s infectious catapulting

Her heart lept from own demise
Longing to kiss and just hold him

(Reference to Sleep Token’s song, “infinite Baths”)

Where Demons Tread

Set Apart

“When I was a teen, I was not shown that I was wanted nor cherished.

I watched my siblings get everything they needed: held and comforted when they cried; love and nourishment; friends, toys and clothes; the free-flow of emotional expression – and they had me as an extra guardian and protector.

I got picked on and jumped at school; attacked nd predated upon by men of different ages; yelled at and beaten, terrorized; told I was a slut for putting on makeup, groped and molested by a trusted adult no matter how I tried to evade him – and then ripped away from everything I worked hard for, despite all of these negative influences.”