Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn

The Dragon and the Unicorn are waiting at my door
Scayled claws and gentle hooves scrape along the kitchen floor
Ginger tea for the Dragon, lemon tea for me
And hot chocolate for the Unicorn

We settle on the living room rug, ill-suited to chairs
The Dragon wants a chess match, the Unicorn wants stories shared
I tell him tales until he falls asleep and dreams
Of rabbit-filled oceans, gem-stone felines, and otters flying spaceships with ease

This was easier as a child
When they were just there, vivid and wild
Technicolor ponies running through my backyard
Winged cats flapping overhead
Now I have to remember them
Or they fade like a tapestry sewn from fraying thread

Then the phone rings, a sudden distraction
Shattering my imagination's careful refraction
There's just a notebook on the floor
Filled with story ideas, nothing more
A library book on chess, and three mugs
Including two empty ones I haven't used yet
Ginger tea for the Dragon, lemon tea for me
And hot chocolate for the Unicorn, laid out so carefully

"Dammit," I say, "this was easier as a child"
When they were just here, vivid and wild
I close my eyes and summon them back
Transparent, shadow-thin, like a flashback — not as bright
But they're still there if I remember, if I fight
Against how daylight fades daydreams with age

My Dragon will not be Puff
My Unicorn will not fade away
The world wants me to grow up and forget
But I'll be damned if I let them go away
So, I make them tea and we play

Ginger tea for the Dragon, lemon tea for me
And hot chocolate for the Unicorn, laid out so carefully

The Dragon says "It's your turn, move"
So easy, and yet so easily lost
The Unicorn wakes when I touch his side
"Is it time to go?" he asks
And I walk them to the door one more time

The Dragon disappears, becoming one with the dark
The Unicorn glows white a little longer, a shining spark
I put two mugs back in the cupboard
Unused but not unloved
Not gone, just harder to hold
In a world that let itself get too old

Going through my aunt's old boxes
Science notes and vet bills for her goats
Found a letter sealed but never sent
With a pearl tucked in the corner and a story she wrote

Aunt Jill was an ecologist, studying deer in the mists of the Florida Keys
But back in nineteen fifty-nine, an injured deer made her doubt her scientific beliefs

An albino deer had lost its antlers, and grown a single spiral horn
In the middle of its forehead, just like the myths
Or maybe just a coincidence…
So she watched and learned and theorized
Tracking a creature that shouldn't exist

She wrote it all down, every detail observed
Puzzling out what the data suggested:
A queen burrows down in a young deer's brow
Extruding a bone-like shell where she's nested

A glittering, gleaming, whirling swirl of insects live in a twisting horn
Laying pearl-like eggs with a decades-long wait
A life cycle so complex, so intricate, so strange
She wrote:
"Where is a rational mind to go
When all the data you've collected shows
Contradictions with everything you know?
Could magic be a parasite…
And mythical creatures, less a hoax and more a host?"

My aunt kept the pearl safe for years
Never dissected, never exposed
Held the secret close, held it near
And that's how her story goes

Now I hold the pearl in my palm
It pulses slowly, alive but calm
Decades have passed, its cycle turned
But life still burns, something impossible might've survived

A glittering, gleaming, whirling swirl of insects live in a twisting horn
Laying pearl-like eggs with a decades-long wait
A life cycle so complex, so intricate, so strange
She wrote:
"Where is a rational mind to go
When all the data you've collected shows
Contradictions with everything you know?
Could magic be a parasite…
And mythical creatures, less a hoax and more host?"

Two goats are grazing on the lawn outside
My aunt kept ungulates her whole life
Maybe she was waiting, keeping vigil
Maybe the goats are sacrificial…
Could magic be a parasite…
And mythical creatures, less a hoax and more a host?
Or maybe just a goat…

I won't cut it open, won't tear it apart
Won't smear it on a microscope slide
The pearl keeps breathing in my palm
And the goats are grazing just outside

If this pearl hatches like the story suggests
Then I think my aunt could attest–
In fact, I'm sure she would have sworn
A goat would make a lovely unicorn

Bark breaks from the sharillow trees
Falling in curls at my knees
I shape a mask from the forest floor
Draw a charcoal grin, and cast a glamour
When I look down I see in the rippling water
A human face, staring back at me
A disguise I can wear all day, to hide my scales away

Holding the mask in my talon
I walk through the village, not to pillage
Just to see the wonderful shops, colorful spots
Where humans get to be…
My puppet-glamour preceding me with ease
Is this what it's like to be human? It's a breeze
I played pretend, not intending to lose myself
And make a friend, compelled by my glamour
To see a false face
Where my dragon face ought to be

We talked for hours in the unicorn's hollow
Shared our secrets under the waxing moon
She held my glamour's ghostly hands
While I watched from behind the wooden mask, aching to be true

I'm jealous of my own creation
Why can't I be the mask I made?
But masks can't fly on dragon wings
And lies leave a bitter taste
I want something real
Not a puppet show
So I take a risk, let the glamour fall

She screamed when she saw my face, threw herself down on the ground
And I hated myself for being a dragon, scale-covered and horn-crowned

Terrified and cowering, she bravely made a confession
A way to cover my indiscretion, make a new impression
"Are you a witch?" she questioned
The dragon's just an illusion, we agreed, taking the path she offered me
But every word after that felt like death, my heart slaughtered
By each small lie building a bigger delusion

I'm jealous of my own illusory creation
Why can't I be the mask I made?
But masks can't fly on dragon wings
And lies leave a bitter taste
I want something real
Not a puppet show
So I took a risk, and let the glamour fall
I want something real
Or nothing at all

I couldn't walk that path of pretending
Building up lies upon lies, never-ending
Couldn't fit inside the box I'd made
So I turned my back and prayed, she'd understand
"I'm a dragon," I said, "fearsome and grand"
"If you can still care for me, come back when the full moon rises
But if I'm more than your heart can sympathize with…
I'll fly away

I waited in the hollow, eyes downcast, unsure if she would come
Then I heard her footsteps, and my heart beat fast, ready to lose its burden
She said "I've heard of a place across the ocean, where humans and dragons can be friends"
She looked me in the eyes — my real eyes
And that one look was worth more than a whole hoard of gems

For the first time, she saw me, and this time she knew
I am a dragon, but our friendship was always true

Shadow of antlers stretched over the snow
Darkfoot crouched low, waiting to strike
If he brought down a moose on his own
His pack would never mock him again

Giant hooves, legs like elm trees
He sprang from behind, aimed for the neck
The moose turned its massive head
Knocked him from the air, left him for dead

But instead of hooves trampling him down
He felt the dull stab of a leaf-eater's teeth
A crescent bite on his flank
And everything went dark beneath

Now the meat tastes wrong on his tongue
He's gnawing on twigs and pine
His pack thinks he's losing his mind
But Darkfoot feels something new inside
His legs grow long, his shoulders wide
There's majesty when he turns his head
And in the snow before him, spreading
The shadow of antlers

Night after night he stayed home to heal
While his brothers and sisters hunted without him
The crescent scar remained
Marking him as separate, strange, insane

On the new moon they brought him moose meat
But it tasted like guilt, like a broken taboo
He wouldn't touch it again
Just berries and branches and oak tree bark

His pack saw a mangy, sickly wolf
Wasting away, surely dying
But Darkfoot knew better
Darkfoot saw what he was becoming

The meat tastes wrong on his tongue
He's gnawing on twigs and pine
His pack thinks he's lost his mind
But Darkfoot feels the power inside
His legs grow long, his shoulders wide
There's majesty when he turns his head
And in the snow before him, spreading
The shadow of antlers
The shadow of antlers

Not wolf, not moose
Something in between
Cursed or blessed
By a leaf-eater's teeth
The shadow of antlers
Is what he'll soon be

Danny pressed his nose against the window glass
Twisted under his seatbelt, straining to see past
Golden fields of stupid unicorns
To the forest edge where something better could be storming

Danny urges dad to drive closer to the trees
But dad insists, "we're supposed to stay on the road"
But Danny doesn't want to see
What everyone already knows

He's got a mythology book open on his lap
Pictures of creatures that don't exist on any map
Moose with branching antlers, squirrels with bushy tails
Humans with two eyes instead of one
He's dreaming of a world beyond the veil

His mother says "Moose aren't real, honey
That's a mythology book you're reading
People think they've seen them
But it's just dirty unicorns with branch-tangled horns, so misleading"

Past the unicorn fields to the faerie glen
Silver sprites with iridescent wings
Danny groans "Isn't there anything interesting?"
But his mother just explains boring things

She says most squirrel sightings happen in the winter cold
When faeries wear their fuzzy coats of yeti fur
Danny's not listening anymore
He's flipping through pages of a better world

On the last page he finds the creature labeled "human"
Places his two fingers on its two eyes
When he gets home and blows out his birthday candles
He knows exactly what he'll wish for tonight

He's got a mythology book clutched in his hand
Pictures of creatures from an impossible land
Moose with branching antlers, squirrels with bushy tails
Humans with two eyes instead of one
He's wishing for a world beyond the veil
A fabulous world with moose and squirrels
Where he could have two eyes
And be a human

Sometimes the real world's full of unicorns
And the mythical one
Is where you wish you'd been born

There's a shimmer in the corner, gray like smoke or cloud
Moving under benches, trying not to be found
Over time its shape grows clear, an otter spirit small
And Artie will need another horse for his carousel

The stars come out and the room goes still
Wooden bodies shift and stretch at will
Stepping down from the wheel
They leave their golden poles behind
And gallop out to the misty beach where the living world and spirit world align
All day frozen, all night free
The carousel of spirits dancing by the sea

Silly Girl was once a fine lady
Now she's a unicorn who spins on the carousel daily
Worthy was a chocolate lab, Artie's best friend
Now he's a brown carousel horse that will never come to an end

Carving and painting months on end
A new pony takes shape under Artie's skillful hands
Polka dots, rainbow stripes, colors all around,
And a golden gleaming saddle for this pony, decorated like a clown

"Are you happy, Otter? Will you come to life
Every night when the stars arrive?"
When the painting's done, Otter knows it's time
He fills the wooden body, crosses the line

The stars come out and the room goes still
Wooden bodies shift and stretch at will
Stepping down from the wheel
They leave their golden poles behind
And gallop out to the misty beach where the living world and spirit world align
All day frozen, all night free
The carousel of spirits dancing by the sea

Otter's hooves gallop through the surf and the sand
And as the pony moves he begins to understand
How to move as a horse, how to prance like a clown,
While his new wooden friends frolic up the beach and down

In the back of the workshop, hidden from view
There's a unicorn body Artie carved for himself too
Someday when he's called to leave this life behind
He hopes he'll come back to his carousel ponies, as one of their kind

The stars come out and the room goes still
Wooden bodies shift and stretch at will
Stepping down from the wheel
They leave their golden poles behind
And gallop out to the misty beach where the living world and spirit world align
All day frozen, all night free
The carousel of spirits dancing by the sea

Tomorrow they'll ride in circles again
Filled with laughing children
But tonight they gallop down the moonlit shore
Free and wild and whole once more

Amalioona prances in with hooves like snow in sun
Knocks over the slop bucket, kicks the hay undone
I'm sneezing through the dust storm, mopping up the mess
While the trapeze artist waves goodbye to her, not me, I guess

I'm just the unicorn's keeper
Who would notice me
When there's something shining, bright, and beautiful
For everyone to see?

Crystal bowl of lavender and rose
Four-leaf clovers, only those
She scrapes my shoulder with her horn
Leaves me bleeding and worn
But if I set down boundaries, her glow fades gray
And everyone says "Make her better, right away"
So I fold, every time
'Cause there's nothing worse than being
The one who hurt the unicorn

I found her as a fawn, small enough to hold
Tucked her in my jacket, brought her to my fold
Now she stands as tall as me but never outgrew
The way I babied her, the way she makes me do

Her lips are warm and soft when she snuffles my hand
Being kissed by a unicorn feels like a blessing, grand
But then she kicks me in the knee on her way to bed
Sharp pain that dulls to aching, a bruise upon my leg

I watch her curl in golden hay
Her breathing gentle, side heaving
Her sleep radiates like sunlight
You could almost feel rested
Just from watching her sleeping
That would almost be enough

Crystal bowl clutched in my hands
Waiting to be filled again
I'll spend tomorrow searching out
Four-leaf clovers in the glen
I love her more than anything
It's an honor, so they say
Even as I limp away
Even as I limp away

She stars at the carnival
Visits birthday parties, reads with kids
She's brilliant, she's beautiful
She's everything she is
And I'm the keeper
Just the keeper
Limping with an empty bowl
That I'll fill again tomorrow
'Cause I love her more than anything
Even though it takes its toll

My coffee turns to ice again,
I drop it in surprise, broken porcelain.
The baby’s crying, the cat’s on strike,
The faucets are all blocked with frost and ice
He’s tiny, wild, with a shining horn,
A myth I tamed that's left me torn.
Wish I could trade this fairy tale
For one good night of sleep.

It’s just another myth-touched morning,
Trying to keep the magic at bay.
One hoofstep closer to losing my mind —
But I love them anyway.

I found them small beneath the thorns
Two white shadows, barely born
Raised them gentle, kept them warm
Never knowing what wreck they'd cause when their horns grew in
Magic fully formed

Chased him round the house in my pajamas once again
Golden bridle's supposed to work but I don't know when
He stabbed my hand and set my mother's hair on fire
This mystical pet situation's getting dire

Mom says, “Honey, it’s just a phase,”
But she brought garlic and purple daisies
For an incantation that I watch with resignation

It’s just another myth-touched morning,
Trying to keep the magic at bay.
One hoofstep closer to losing my mind —
But I love them anyway.

One brought frost and fire, chaos in his wake
One brought healing quiet, for compassion's sake
Same blood, same beginning, different paths they'd take
Sometimes love means letting go, knowing what to save
And realizing the difference between wild and tame

So I open up the window wide,
Let the morning in, let the storm subside.
One runs free through the silver rain,
One curls up by my side again.

Now the baby’s fed, the frost is gone,
Mom’s hair will grow back before too long.
I’ve swept the ashes, brewed new coffee —
Just another myth-touched morning for me
Trying to keep the magic at bay.
One hoofstep closer to losing my mind —
But I love them anyway.

One unicorn's gone where wild things go.
But not every horn's a weapon drawn
Sometimes magic's wild, sometimes it stays
The trick is realizing the difference between wild and tame

I watch the lake, peaceful and serene
White swans floating like a wedding dream
Ice sculptures, fondant, graceful and still
Life in a drowse, asleep until—

The black swans come crashing down
Wings spread wide, they shake the ground
Ripples racing cross the water now
Everything new, freshly allowed
One might be strange, ignored, dismissed
But a whole flock changes what exists

Children drawing with their black crayons now
Scribbling dark instead of washed-out
Curved necks swooping into night
What once seemed wrong now feels right

The black swans came crashing down
Wings spread wide, they shook the ground
Ripples raced across the water then
Nothing will be the same again
One might be strange, ignored, dismissed
But a whole flock changes what exists

Why are you afraid? They're only swans
Gleaming with nebulas upon
Their feathers deep as starlit skies
We've traded fondant cakes for paradise
The white ones look so pale now, bleached
Line drawings that the color never reached
We falsely made swans the complement of ravens—
One shines, one schemes — both dream of flying

The black swans came, they changed the view
Made us see what we thought we knew
Progress lands with wings spread wide
Wakes us from our lakeside lies
Cake is nice, the sky is better
We've gained more than we thought we'd ever
Lost

That cannot be a loss worth mourning
When black swans rise to meet the dawning

I found a vase beneath the thorns one day
Called a genie forth, got three wishes to make
Built a castle between the stones and sky
Made a court of flowers, green and shy
My queen was a rose plucked from mother's grave
My soldiers, pine branches I had saved
They loved me, but they weren't quite real
And my brother by the ocean — he was as cold as steel

I sent him page-boys bearing gifts
He sent them back, the distance between us fixed
All I wanted was to share this dream
But his pride runs deeper than the sea

I died holding my third wish close
Hoping he would come, but I suppose
Some things you can't command or buy
Not even with magic, not even if you try
I'm gone now, watching from my grave beneath the willow tree
As he makes the wish that I kept free

He found my castle standing tall and cold
Took the vase and claimed the genie's gold
I could've brought him here against his will
But love that's forced is never real
From my grave I see him take my throne
See him wish for power all his own
And the magic starts to drain away
Like water through a sieve, it cannot stay

The flowers fall back into stems
My queen wilts to greens again
Everything I built dissolves to air
Because he needed to prove he was here

He used the wish I never made
To steal the magic, make the whole world fade
All I wanted was connection, something true
He wanted power — now there's nothing anyone can do
I'm gone now, resting beneath the willow tree
Watching magic die where it used to be

Brother, I would've given you the castle
Given you my crown
Shared the magic, shared the wonder
If you'd just come around
But you needed to be strongest
Needed to be first
Now you're king of nothing
In a world you've cursed

I saved my third wish, hoping you would come
Now you've made your third and all the magic's done
We could've shared forever in these castle walls
Instead you pulled the world apart to prove you'd never fall
I'm gone now, sleeping beneath the willow tree
The magic's dying, but I'm finally free

Brother, I forgive you
Though you'll never know
The willow keeps on growing
In a world that's letting go

Smoke from my nostrils, gray and cold
Not a spark, not a flame, just getting older
My sisters fly with their crispy wings
While I'm stuck here, can't do anything
Doe-ee and soggy, my wings drag on the ground
They laugh and loop in the sky while I stay down
Too young to toast, too young to fly
That's what every Bread-dragon replies

So I crawled deep into the cave
Past the gold and the ruby graves
Found a mound of dirt and heat
Tiny voices at my feet

Fire ants, fire ants, glowing red
"Can you toast my wings?" I said
But they wanted crumbs instead
One basket, two, I'm being fed
Lies from the fire ants

Day after day I brought them more
Scraped the crumbs off the cavern floor
They got fatter, lazier, slow
While my wings stayed soft as dough
Then I felt it — something new
Burning in my belly, burning through
Not sadness anymore, not shame
This feeling had another name

Fury rising, hot and bright
Filling up my chest with light
I aimed my snout and let my fire go
Set that wicker basket aglow

Fire ants, fire ants, watch them run
I became the burning sun
Torched their hive, the deed was done
(I'm a dragon, after all, this chaos is just fun)
Goodbye, fire ants

Then I turned my flame around
Spread my wings without a sound
Kissed the dough, it turned to bread
Crisped it golden, toasted, perfect red-brown instead

I flew, I flew into the sky
Clouds like butter melting by
No more crumbs, no more lies
Found my fire in my battle cry
Too young to toast? Not anymore
I found the flame I'm looking for

The moral of my story's clear as day:
Don't trick a dragon, don't get in her way
And if your fire hasn't yet come in
You're just not angry enough then

She said "Don't look so worried, keep an open mind"
As we walked beneath the timber arch, prehistoric by design
I grew up on Jurassic Park, I know how this story goes
But she throws a steak between the bars and the jungle leaves move
Feathered snout and nightmare teeth, eyes peering through the green
T-Rex screaming like a chicken, biggest thing I've ever seen

Then a woof, a happy bark, something even stranger still
A giant black Lab grinning wide, tail wagging on the hill

At the Prehistory Zoo, where the impossible is true
They gave dinosaurs comfort dogs the size of me and you
(Well, bigger, much much bigger)
I should be terrified, I should be running for the door
But there's something about a dog that makes you want to see more

Collies herding brachiosaurus across the golden plain
AI simulations matching dogs with dinos in a game
My wife's been keeping secrets, three days a week she'd fly
To an island full of creatures from another time
She wants to bring one home, a scruffy mutt named Galileo
She says: "He didn't work out with the dinosaurs, but you should know—
He's the sweetest dog you'll ever meet, I'm already in love"
And our farm is big enough to hide what we're not supposed to speak of.."

At the Prehistory Zoo, where the impossible is true
They gave dinosaurs comfort dogs the size of me and you
(Much bigger, so much bigger)
I should be saying no, we should keep to normal pets
But she's looking at me all hopeful, and I haven't said no yet

Then I saw him at a birthday party, paws like beach balls on the ground
Sandy curls and chocolate eyes, the gentlest giant I ever found
Kids were riding on his back, he was dancing on command
The birthday girl loved him, but she got a miniature triceratops instead

I put my hand against his fur
Buried to my elbow in the curl
Imagined riding cross the farm
This impossible, enormous charm

At The Prehistory Zoo, where the science went too far
Or maybe went exactly right, depending where you are
Yeah, I should be terrified, but here's what I know now:
Once you meet a dog like that, you can't imagine living without

So we signed the NDA
Brought him home the other day
Our other dog looks confused
But Galileo's snoring on the roof
The biggest dog you've ever seen came home with me
From the Prehistory Zoo
(They made my dreams come true)
I dream of giant dogs (don't you?)
And they made my dreams come true
At The Prehistory Zoo

She's holding something green and soft
Kiwi-colored, purring in her palm
I ask her "What's the catch?"
'Cause there's always something wrong
She touches it against her brow
That cooing sound, it calms me down
But I've seen enough movies to know
Beautiful things hide teeth below

Maybe it reproduces too fast, turns into a monster at night
Sucks your blood, replaces you, some kind of unimaginable doom
There's gotta be something about it that's just not right
But she just laughs and holds it out
"Would you like to pet it now?"

No catch, she says, no catch
Just something soft to hold
No catch, she says, no catch
When the world's been feeling cold
Since Cal left, since I came out
Since I learned what I'm about
She says "no catch," just this
Something warm that exists

I touch the fur with fingertips
Feel something in my chest untwist
A knot that's been there choking me
Since I said the words "I'm ace" and he
Walked away like I'd done something wrong
Like loving differently means you don't belong
But this thing purrs and has no face
And somehow that feels safe

"They're technically plants," she explains to me
"Just water and sunlight, that's all they need"
She picks up a smaller one, pale lime
"Would you like one? It's yours if you'd like"

No catch, she says, no catch
Just something soft to hold
No catch, she says, no catch
When the world's been feeling cold
Not everyone leaves, not everything hurts
Some things are gentle, for whatever that's worth
She says "no catch," just this
Something kind that exists

This is the way the world could end
Not with a bang, but with a purr, a friend
Not with teeth or blood or lies
Just softness, and that's fine

No catch, I breathe, no catch
This warm thing in my hands
No catch, I breathe, no catch
Maybe I can trust again
The fuzzball coos, I feel it clear
Not everything I love will disappear
Sometimes "no catch" means no catch
Sometimes gentle things last

"Yes, please," I whisper, "I'd like one"
And suddenly the world feels
Less heavy than it was
No catch
Just this
No catch

"If you could do anything, anything at all"
The question used to sparkle, used to make me tall
I'd say unicorns and rainbows, fields of tiger cubs
Back when magic had no price tag, back before I grew up
Now I know that kittens need feeding
If dinosaurs were real, the would break my lease
Every fantasy I'm dreaming
Costs more I can afford to pay for peace

When did "anything" become "what can I afford?"
When did wishes turn to math I'm calculating for?
Used to think the world was full of birthday candle dreams
Now I'm learning everything costs something
Everything costs something
Nothing's quite as free as it seemed

Roller skating on the moon sounds beautiful until
You factor in the vertigo, the vacuum, and even just skating takes skill
A field of sleeping lions — sure, but who will feed them all?
The bigger that the magic is, the harder is the fall
I don't want to sound ungrateful
For the question or the care
But imagination's painful
When you've learned what isn't there

When did "anything" become "what makes the most sense?"
When did dreaming big start feeling like an expense?
There's a trade-off in every wish, a string on every star
Now I'm learning how the world works
How the real world works
And it's harder than I thought it'd be by far

Maybe it's not cynical to want something small
Maybe wisdom's knowing you can't have it all
There's a kind of magic in the modest and the true
In saying "I'll take what's actually possible"
And finding that's enough to get you through

So when they ask me "anything," I'll say something real
Something I can hold onto, something I can feel
Not unicorns or rainbows, not the moon or a lion's den
Just the small and secret pleasures
Those quiet little treasures
That help you start again
And again
And again

"If you could do anything"—
I'd do something I can keep
Something simple, something mine
Something that lets me sleep

In the mirror of my sleep, the silver gleams,
Two ribbons of moonlight cut through my dreams.
They whisper and whirl, they shimmer and spin,
The dance begins again.

I hear the air divide in sighs,
The rhythm hums, the night replies.
Each motion carved, precise, ordained,
A ballet born of pain.

The dancing swords, they call my name,
Their beauty burns, their edges flame.
I know their steps by heart each time —
They slice, they sway, they rhyme.
I bleed in dream to wake and mend,
To live, to break, to sleep again.
The dancing swords return at night,
To set me free, to make me fight.

Feathers fall from the wound of dawn,
I’m hollowed out, but I carry on.
The world is sharp in softer ways,
Each word another blade.

I move through daylight slow, serene,
Pretend I’ve never seen that gleam.
But in the dark, they come once more,
My silent silver war.

The dancing swords, they call my name,
Their beauty burns, their edges flame.
I know their steps by heart each time —
They slice, they sway, they rhyme.
I bleed in dream to wake and mend,
To live, to break, to sleep again.
The dancing swords return at night,
To set me free, to make me fight.

Maybe pain’s a kind of prayer,
To prove I’m real, to know I'm there
If waking life’s the crueler scheme,
Then let me stay inside the dream.

The dancing swords still call my name,
Their beauty burns, their edges flame.
The rhythm pulls, I can’t resist —
The dream, the pain, the twist.
Each night I fall, each dawn I rise,
Still tracing Xs on the sky.
The dancing swords will come for me —
Until I learn to sleep in peace.

There was a spark in the pantry’s dark,
A little red dog with a glowing heart.
I fed him stories, I fed him flame,
I called him Blaze — loved that name.
He was my wildfire, my secret friend,
We ran through the woods that never end.
He kept me safe, he kept me warm,
Till one gray day he became the storm.

And oh, Blaze, you burned too bright,
You turned the dark to fearless light.
But every flame must fade away,
And every heart must learn how to stay.
You were my fire, my childhood’s song,
And I’ve carried your warmth for so long.

I grew, you grew, we both turned wild,
The world got mean, I was still a child.
The woods turned gray, the bullies came,
And I whispered low, I whispered your name.
You rose like a bonfire, fierce and tall,
I saw the blaze that ended it all.
When the smoke cleared, the forest sighed,
And I knew my fire had said goodbye.

Oh Blaze, you burned too bright,
You turned the dark to fearless light.
But every flame must fade away,
And every heart must learn how to stay.
You were my fire, my childhood’s song,
And I’ve missed your warmth for so long.

Then through the ashes, pale and shy,
A white shape shimmered against the sky.
She touched my hand, cooled the pain,
Turned my sorrow into rain.
From fire to frost, from grief to grace,
You left, and the unicorn took your place.

Blaze, you burned too bright,
You taught me how to love the light.
Now when I dream, I see your flame,
And the unicorn whispers your name.
You were my fire, my guiding star,
And on my heart, there's still a scar

The pentagram glows, the drones stand guard
Queen Seltyne calls from her red boulevard
Through dripping roots where the mole-folk burrow
I leave my realm for their city of sorrow

They pull me through against my will
The Red Queen's voice, demanding still
I bow before her armored throne
So far, so far from home

Send me back to the sun-sparked sea
Where shrimp and eels dance wild and free
I've slain your monsters, paid my dues
Now break these chains, dissolve this glue
But the queen insists; I have no choice

Just one more battle, one more fight
Then I can swim home through starlit night

So here I search through the mildew and rot
For shadow things in forgotten spots
Empty exoskeletons, sucked bone-dry
A youngling in silk tufts, eyestalks high
Like a sheep crossed with an army ant
It squeaks "Don't eat me!" in a trembling chant

Down in the shadows, something feeds
Surrounded by hollow shells and broken dreams
The youngling trembles by my ear
Whispering paths through ancient fear

I find the toad in pools of gloom
Its hunger echoing through the room
Bumpy and flippered, its tongue shoots out
But I fight back, take it down with a shout
My fur shines bright
For ocean-born hearts deflect the night
But the Shadow Toad's hunger echoes like a siren's call
The Red Queen's subjects hold me in a tempting thrall

Send me back to the sun-sparked sea
Where shrimp and eels dance wild and free
I've slain your monsters, paid my dues
Now break these chains, dissolve this glue
The queen complies and I rejoice

But as I disappear, I call out this warning clear:
The line between food and friend grows thin
And next time you summon me…
I might give in

Five jumps from home with cargo to haul
But Meijing won't jump, she ignores my call
Black-masked eyes blink, profoundly bored
While our air runs thin and I'm being ignored
We're stuck in orbit (stuck in orbit) over Gloaming's lights
A giant airtight box with no engines in sight
Just atmosphere scrubbers and a video game
And a stubborn panda who won't play her lane

(Panda-panda-panda-mensional)
(Pan, pan, pan, panda-mensional)
(Panda-panda-panda-mensional)

Before pandas, spaceships had rocket fuel and fire
Now we trust quantum jumps and a bear's desire
Every twenty months they get that itch
And leave us stranded in a cosmic ditch
She scratches at her collar, won't eat her bamboo
What's a cargo captain supposed to do?

(Panda-panda-panda-mensional)
(Pan, pan, pan, panda-mensional)
(Panda-panda-panda-mensional)

Jace says his girlfriend's waiting back on Earth
I remember when that jump had impossible worth
He laughs at the thought of engines and flight
A youngling who thinks quantum jumping's natural and right
I take off her collar — what's the worst that could be?
My stomach lurches through jumps one-two-three
Twelve jumps total to a planet, forest green
With a crimson sky like I've never seen

(Jump panda, jump panda, jump through the quantum night)
(Jump panda, jump panda, jump, and it'll be alright)

Before pandas, spaceships had rocket fuel and fire
Now we trust quantum jumps and a bear's desire
Every twenty months they get that itch
And leave us stranded in a cosmic ditch
But Meijing knew something we never could—
The call of a secret world, only a panda's heart understood

The clearing's alive with black and white
Rainbow flowers pulsing infrared to ultraviolet light
Hibiscus-like petals in a frenzied feast
Dancing pandas (dancing pandas), confetti of leaves released
They throw their bamboo, they munch and they play
An interplanetary holiday
Gengineered food saved them from the brink
Now they're the true explorers, and we're the missing link

(Dance panda, panda, dance panda, through the flowers bright)
(Dance panda, panda, dance panda, and it'll be alright)

We thought we controlled them with collars and magnetic fields
But pandas know worlds that our telescopes won't reveal
Habitable planets beneath crimson skies
While we're stuck thinking we're the ones who are wise
No more collars, no more control wires
Let the pandas guide us, let them show us the universe entire
Meijing will meet us when she's ready to roam
And I trust her now — when it's time, she'll take us home

(Panda-panda-panda-mensional)
(Pan, pan, pan, panda-mensional)
(Panda-panda-panda-mensional)

Who knows how many worlds pandas can see?
While we wait in the clearing, wild and free
The true space-farers with their quantum genes
Discovering more than our human machines

A hundred years to build the first
Multi-dimensional cranes and cosmic thirst
Mountains arranged, icy spires rise tall
Sea-green valleys waiting for the call
I dreamed of feathered wings in castle heights
Of primates swinging through the valley nights
But no one came to claim what I had made
My perfect world just hanging in the void..
Inhabitation delayed

I keep building worlds, empty and serene
Ice and dust and oceans in between
Each one waiting, each one calls in vain
Too many other places, too much cosmic rain
My empire grows but nobody calls it home
I'm the architect of cosmic beauty, building all alone

So I made a moon of mirror-ice and glass
Abov a world where hoofed equines could gallop through endless grass
The planet and the moon reflected each others' light
Two empty faces shining through the night
No one wants ice worlds anymore, I learned
So I smashed asteroids, let the red dust burn
Reptiles could bask beneath that sun-burnt glow
But still the red world had no life to show

I keep building worlds, empty and serene
Ice and dust and oceans in between
Each one waiting, each one calls in vain
Too many other places, too much cosmic rain
My empire grows but nobody calls it home
I'm the architect of cosmic beauty, building all alone

Now I churn them out, one every several years
A green world wishing for rodents' tiny cheers
Oceans deep where sentient fish could swim
A purple gemstone carved to match my whims
I don't even know who'd live in half of these
But I build them anyway, desperate to please
Hyper-spatial cranes still swing and sway
While my perfect worlds just wait, and wait, and stay
(And stay, and stay)

I keep building worlds, empty and serene
The most beautiful places no one's ever seen
Each one perfect, each one calls my name
But there are too many others in this inter-galactic game
My empire grows, unpopulated, painfully pure
I tell myself someday, I tell myself for sure
They'll come eventually to what I've made
Until then, my empty empire won't fade
(No, it won't fade, fade, fade away)

Each of them is waiting
Each of them will wait
Perfect and serene
In their patient, lonely state
Some day you will come
Some day you will see
The empire I built
Is waiting, just for you

This is not a story about Spider-Man
He's owned by a company, understand?
This is about a boy who fell asleep
For his parents' life plus seventy years deep
Bitten by a spider on his first high school day
Glass coffin in the garden center, Mal-Wart display
His parents couldn't grieve, had to work their shift
No union protection, no time-off, such a grift

Seven years of labor for a cure
Seven more from your firstborn, that's the lure
GoKickMe campaigns and angel donor dreams
Nothing's quite as simple as it seems
In a world of patents and proprietary schemes
Where fairy tales meet corporate machines

What to do? What to do? How to save the boy?
So many offers rolled in… but they were all hackneyed ploys

True Love's Kiss from a boy with a crush?
Well, his parents said no — the scientific evidence wasn't enough
A mad scientist wanted to clone a spider's heart
And a fashion designer offered to weave spider silk into art
She fed her spiders fair trade coffee beans
Sparkling water, only the best caffeine
The boy did a pirouette, never woke at all
But the designers insta-fame post becoming the most viral post of all

Seven years of labor for a cure
Seven more from your firstborn, that's the lure
GoKickMe campaigns and angel donor dreams
Nothing's quite as simple as it seems
Metropolitan Gothopolis orders came
While the sleeping boy stayed the same

Then a billionaire funded real research at last
A pharmaceutical cure synthesized fast
Simple process, cheap ingredients too
But 3.4 million before they'd give it to you
Patent the recipe, threaten to sue
That's what a billionaire and his corporation will do
And our poor boy, Not Spider-Man, kept sleeping through and through
His mother, amateur astronomer in despair
Sent DNA sequences on radio signals through the air

Her SETI@home screensaver sent a desperate plea
To anyone listening across the galaxy
And oh, they heard her — silver spaceships came down!
Hovering over every major town

(Clusters of black eyes, gleaming with grace
An unearthly spider filled every screen's space
"Thank you for alerting us to this crime
Unauthorized DNA seeded in your timeline
Four billion years of unlawful protein use
We'll extract it all, return Earth to its roots
Powerful anesthetic is filling your sky
Returning this world to barren — goodbye")

Very few humans stayed awake to hear
The rest of the announcement, crystal clear
Not Spider-Man slept through it all, serene
The most public domain ending you've ever seen
No unions, no healthcare, no time to grieve
Just corporate dystopia up our sleeve
Until the universe came to collect its fee
And Earth returned to the empty, uninhabited paradise…
That it used to be

A tickle in my throat, I cough into my hand
Silky strands and silver threads, the rarest in the land
The bride runs fingers over clouds of pearlescent white
"Where do you get your Silk?" she asks, knowing such rare spiders can't survive spaceflight
I smile and hold my secret close
Feeling the tickle return
This dress is my masterpiece
Made from silk I had to earn

There's a spider in my lungs, spinning webs of light
Ruby red and glittering, hidden from sight
The doctors said I'd die, one wrong breath sealed my fate
But we found a way to work together, me and my stowaway
I cough the silk at midnight, spread it on a screen to dry
Layer it thick for wedding gowns, thin as mist for veils unseen
Hemming pearls and stitching seams while the spider spins inside
My death becomes my partner in this craft where we thrive

Addicted to its toxins, can't remove it without death
Its webs will suffocate me with every shortened breath
But I proved the doctors wrong — we learned to live as one
I just can't sleep too long or all my air is gone
I wake to clear the cobwebs, cough the silk into my palm
The most successful seamstress, death assists me, deadly calm

There's a spider in my lungs, spinning webs of light
Ruby red and glittering, hidden from sight
The doctors said I'd die, one wrong breath sealed my fate
But we found a way to work together, me and my stowaway
I cough the silk at midnight, spread it on a screen to dry
Layer it thick for wedding gowns, thin as mist for veils unseen
Hemming pearls and stitching seams while the spider spins inside
My death becomes my partner in this craft where we thrive

"You're spinning awfully fast tonight," I whisper to my chest
The veil catches dawn light — rainbows in the threads
"It only needs more pearls," I say, "but maybe I'll lie down"
I tap my hand against my heart: "No more spinning now"
But I'm too tired, too tired to rise
My breath grows shallow, creaking sighs
And then I see it on my nose
Small and green—not red like I supposed

You've laid your eggs, I try to say
Our eggs, growing inside today
You draw your silk and wrap me round
A wedding dress, a burial gown
The baby spiders will eat me when they hatch
But I drift to dreams before they scratch
In my final sleep, I sew the last pearl in its queue
My masterpiece complete, my work finally through

There was a spider in my lungs
Now there are many where there was one
My death was always spinning, patient, slow
The most expensive silk that no one else could grow

Pink sunset on the spires in the distance
They grow while we diminish in their shade
I signed the forms with trembling resistance
And felt the pseudopod begin its trade
The taste of brine still haunts me in the darkness
The way it wrapped around and held me tight
Everyone says it felt like flying, starless
But I just felt it stealing my last fight

Beautiful, they whisper
Beautiful, they say
While something writhes inside me
And takes my thoughts away
They're building us a future
In those towering heights
But I can smell the perfume
That's rewriting what's right

The video showed a woman smiling, grateful
Tears in her eyes for what they took from her
Most of them can't wait to be faithful
While I just sit and stare
The queen arrived with tentacles cascading
Asymmetric arms and fasseted eyes
One woman screams the truth as she begins fading
Into the sea foam scent of their disguise

Beautiful, they whisper
Beautiful, they say
While something writhes inside me
And takes my thoughts away
They're building us a future
In those towering heights
But I can smell the perfume
That's rewriting what's right

I wanted to rip it out, tear it apart
Leave it in shreds, reclaim my heart
But the anchor holds me, roots me down
And the scent grows thick all through the town
Breathe deeply now, the nurse intones
Picture the life, the fasseted stones
Unmatched arms in my belly deep
Writhing, waiting, I'm falling asleep

Beautiful, I whisper
Beautiful, I say
The thing that writhes inside me
Has taken me away
We're building them a future
In those towering heights
And I can taste the ocean
That's making wrong feel right

And it was beautiful
(It was always beautiful)
And it was beautiful
(We were always beautiful)

Flying blind through velvet darkness
No place left to hide my son
Reaching out with spatial magic
Seeking voices, finding one
A gyroscope lost between the stars
A bazaar where no light shines
Lit with lightning bugs and filled with twisted vines
But he's coming, and he's never far

Hemoglobin calls to hemoglobin
Blood calls out to blood
Like an arrow to the center
Like a hound tracking through the mud
My magic needs the pull of planets
Needs matter, needs the mass to flow
His magic only needs a heartbeat
Needs the red pulse far below

Red spirals in the blackness
Tearing through dimension's skin
The leech upon his shoulders
Drawing crimson from within
I can fold the space around us
I can feel the layers pressed
But the blood tie that binds them
Won't give my baby rest

My son reaches for the creature
Thinks it loves him, thinks it's kind
Brown and scaly, eyeless hunger
Three red mouths; to everything but blood, it's blind
I see the transformation potions gleaming
But I can't afford the fairy's price
I'm all out of time; too late to reroll the dice

He tears dimensions open, bleeding
Spirals of red against the black
I weave the fabric soft and pleading
Trying to hide our genetic track
But he finds us in the marketplace
My cherubic boy so small
"Don't touch me," he tells his father
As the leech begins to crawl

Red spirals in the blackness
Tearing through dimension's skin
The leech upon his shoulders
Drawing crimson from within
I can fold the space around us
I can feel the layers pressed
But the blood tie that binds them
Won't give my baby rest

I'm on my knees, my blood is singing
Fighting to break free from veins
Then my son raises up his fists
And turns his father's gift to pain
I see the phantom of the man
My baby boy could grow to be
Another cruel blood mage who wields
The warmth of life so mercilessly
So I reach into the architecture
Where dimensions fold like pages
Pull the gravity like water
Through this hub between the ages
I break down, but a shadow forms beneath his feet
Darker than the dark can be
A man-shaped window
Into singularity

Not blood, but gravity
Not blood, but gravity

No more spirals in the blackness
No more tearing through our lives
The leech curls upon my son's shoulders
But at least he's still alive
I can fold the space around us
And the layers amplify
This darkness is our shelter now
This darkness is goodbye

We can't go home again
(We'll stay here in the dark)
The leech has made a friend of him
(He bears his father's mark)
Working at the bazaar now
(Recovering our strength)
The blood magic in his little hands
(What will he do at length?)
In the darkness, in the darkness
We'll make our stand
In the darkness, in the darkness
My beautiful, terrible little man

You made me watch
Thought it would break me down
Thought I would scream and cry
Beg you to stop somehow
But I learned from you
How to turn my heart to stone
How to watch a world burn
And feel nothing at all

You wanted me to see
What you could take away
You wanted me helpless
While my whole world burned down to ash gray
But you forgot one thing
While you gloated at your crime
I was standing right beside you
And you'd already taught me
How to be just like you

You trained them to obey
Those soldiers at their posts
But even they recoiled
At what you chose
You raised me in this cage
Paraded me through the stars
Made sure I knew that nowhere
Could keep me safe from your scars

You wanted me to see
What you could take away
You wanted me helpless
While my whole world burned down to ash gray
But you forgot one thing
While you gloated at your crime
I was standing right beside you
And you'd already made me
Just like you

For one split second
I saw the fire as beautiful
And I knew then what I'd become
What you'd made of me
But maybe that's what it takes
To end what you began
Maybe I have to be the monster
To stop the monster's plan

You thought you'd won
Thought you'd broken me at last
But the daughter you created
Learned every lesson from your past
You should have killed me
When you had the chance
Before you taught me
All the steps to your dance

You made me watch
Thought it would bring me low
But I was watching everything
Learning how to let go
And in that final moment
Standing right beside your throne
I became the justice
For a world you burned down to stone

This is for everyone
Who had to watch and couldn't move
This is for the voiceless
This is what I could do
You wanted me to see
(I saw everything)
You wanted me to break
(I broke the other way)
You made me just like you
(And that's what it took to make you pay)

Five red suns bleed through stained glass
My vanishing spell won't let me pass
Is this terror or is this thrill?
Purple eyes on every tentacle, watching me still
Ash-gray flesh adorned in pearls and lace
She's eaten three husbands, and I'll take their place
They say if I'm obedient, well-behaved
I could have years in her embrace before…
I'm consumed, and her belly becomes my grave

Can't tell fear from desire
When they both burn the same
I'm invisible, I'm on fire
I can't even remember my own name

I'm shaking at the aisle
Can't make myself be seen
Terrified and aching
For the tentacled goddess-queen
Her yellow belly-eyes glow through the cut-out in her dress
Someone help me understand
Is this horror or is this holiness?

A raptor-shifter smells my fear
Leads me through crystal forest spires
Down through grub-burrowed tunnels here
To copper portals, swirling desires
She offers me a sun-warmed world
Escape from red and ash and flame
But every heartbeat asks the question curled
Inside my chest: Why doesn't freedom feel the same?

The silken pillows
The palace walls
A gilded prison
I thought I wanted to be free
But freedom tastes like empty space
And the prison was made so perfectly for me

I'm visible now, I'm standing
In a world where I could stay
But something's demanding
That I find another way
Do I want those sucker disks like kisses?
Or did I just need to choose?
Is this horror or is this holiness?
What do I have to lose?

Is it wrong to crave the danger?
To want the beautiful and strange?
The harps are playing thinner now
Some musicians already eaten
But my heart is beating louder
Saying I know what I believe in

Red light strikes my polished horns
My vanishing spell finally breaks
I walk the aisle reborn
Not because I must, but for my heart's own sake
Three tentacle-tips reach out, requesting
Not demanding, just a gentle pull
And now I know the answer to the question
That's been burning: I want to be consumed, in full

I'm visible, I'm certain
I know what I came to say
She orchestrated my escape
So I could choose to stay
Yes I want those tentacles around me
Sucker disks against my skin
This is horror, this is holiness
And I worship everything she's been

"You've come to me willingly"
The cluster of yellow eyes knows everything
She gave me the choice I needed
Now her ash-gray tentacles embrace me
Years of love before the ceremonial ending
I'll fill her belly, become her greatness
Tonight I am her bridegroom
And the choice was mine to make

I've got a chemical spectralyzer built into my nose
A hunched mechanical back that I hide beneath my clothes
Muzzle-like face that my colleagues like to mock
But I can sniff out diamond dust like a bloodhound on a clock
They think the crime lord's just an addict, hooked and high
But I know better — it's a leaking battery, a mechanical heart gone dry

I'm the only android on the detective floor
The only example of what we are
Every choice I make, I make for all of us
One mistake and they'll judge us by my imperfect score

Down at the precinct they're calling you Diamond Dust
Microscopic traces left at every major bust
I'm tracking you through the city, copper taste bright and tingly on my tongue
Praying you're a drug deal and not one of my kind
Because if you're an android with a dark and leaky heart
They'll say we all have a propensity for crime
And I'll carry that weight till the day I fall apart

Dear Old Mom built me in a basement, wanted a Pinocchio
Made me so real I ran away, joined a gang, put on this badge and show
She gave me super-human senses, spiky plating down my spine
Made me strange enough to struggle, made me perfect for this life of mine
Out at the docks the sunset's poetry through my mechanical eyes
But I hunt ugliness, not beauty — that's the trade-off for the disguise

I'm the only android that they see each day
The only example of what we might become
If I bring in an android mobster, what will that say?
They'll be watching, waiting for me to succumb

Down at the precinct they're calling you Diamond Dust
Microscopic traces left behind at every major bust
I'm tracking you through warehouses where the war mechas sleep
Praying you're a human and not one of my kind
Because if you're an android with a dark and leaky heart
They'll wonder when my time will come
When I'll cross that criminal line

I kick the door open, zapper drawn
And there you sit, metalloid and calm
Bulky frame, three horns, pinstripe suit
Long narrow face, thick hind legs, short arms
You look like a metal dinosaur
And suddenly I understand the shape of my jaw

"Nice to meet you, little sis"
Says mother's first child, the expensive one
I was the daughter she could afford to build
After her dinosaur son was done
The spikes on my back, the muzzle I hide
Were never design flaws — they were family pride

Down at the precinct they were calling you Diamond Dust
But you're my brother with a leaking heart, galvanized and bust
We're both strange creations from a lonely roboticist's hands
Both examples of what we could be
You chose the darkness, I chose the light
But you're asking me to join the family business tonight
And who am I to fight
Fate when it's wearing the same mechanical facemask mine?

I'm not the only one anymore
(Mother always did love dinosaurs)
I'm not the only example anymore
(Maybe that's what I've been searching for)
Every choice I made, I made for all of us
(But he's family)
Now I'm making this one just for me
(He's family)
Who am I to fight fate?
Scratch my imperfect score, I'm finally free

Moonlight through the shuttered windows
Salt circles on the classroom floor
Candles flickering in the darkness
Where children won't learn anymore
I traced the patterns into spirals
Sang nonsense to contain my pain
What's lost can never be brought back
But I can end this, break the chain

I'm so tired of living in terror
Tired of the blood on these walls
They cleaned the room but I still see it
Every time the moonlight falls

So I called a fairy with a beetle's wings
Black and yellow, precious and small
"Bees sting once," I told the fairy
"Then they die, that's all"
It's a powerful spell, needs a sacrifice
But this room is drenched, the price is paid
Sting once and die, that's how it ends
Sting once and die, the choice I made

All across the country, scraping
Metal boxes holding what they've made
The careful ones had time to stop it
The reckless ones, well, they'll see their sins weighed
I'm watching stories on my phone now
Shaking, sobbing, can't look away
These are the birth pains of something better
Or that's what I tell myself anyway

I thought I wanted justice, not vengeance
A solution, not escalation
But my hands are covered now
In this blood-soaked transformation

I called a fairy with a beetle's wings
Set a spell I can't undo
Guns with stubby legs and seeking mouths
Turning on the ones they knew
It's a powerful spell, and the price is paid
Sting once and die, that's how it ends
Sting once and die, the choice I made

There's scratching in my own safe
I bought one knowing what I'd done
Gunmetal gray and six-legged
Heat-seeking like a missile to the sun
I unlock it with my fingerprint
Watch the creature emerge and stare
Its mouth round like an O
And we both know why it's here

I called a fairy with a beetle's wings
Made a choice I can't unmake
One sting to end the terror
One sting and both hearts break
The fairy's face was much too young
For proclamations this profound
But the spell is cast, the price is paid
And I can't live with the weight of this fix driving me into the ground

One sting and dead
Owner and gun
One sting and dead
What have I done?
One sting and dead
(Bees die when they sting)
One sting and dead
(To end everything)

We found a lamp in the creek bed, green-gold and old
A genie poured out like light at the wrong angle
Green-skinned woman with bulbous frog eyes
Said "You touched it together, so you share one wish"
He said velociraptors, shifting at will
And I said "okay" like I always do
But when the magic hit my body
Everything I'd been ignoring came through

My legs grew thick, my face grew long
A tail for balance, claws for truth
The genie whispered "Now get rid of him"
And my instincts knew what to do

I became something fierce and fast
With teeth and claws that finally fit
The anger I'd been pushing down
Found a body built for it
A velociraptor in the forest
Gorgeous, deadly, and free
The transformation wasn't just my shape
It was myself learning to trust me

In my new form I could see the signs
Pocket knife and zip ties on the ground
All the ex-girlfriends he called crazy
Who came to this forest and were never found
The genie knew before I touched the lamp
What kind of wish I'd really need
Not just the power to transform
But the fierceness to be freed

I looked at my reflection in the water
Tilted my raptor head and saw
Something that didn't apologize
Something beyond human law

I became something fierce and fast
With teeth and claws that finally fit
The anger I'd been pushing down
Found a body built for it
A velociraptor in the forest
Deadly, beautiful, and whole
The dark deed done, my safety assured
Then I shifted back to my human form
Under my own control

The genie said "Now tell me more
About that seamstress robot dream"
She wanted out of the lamp, out of the creek
Wanted magic that could be seen
So I tied the lamp onto my shredded clothes
Transformed back to raptor form
We ran together through the forest
Planning magic beyond the norm

I can become something fierce and fast
Whenever I need to be
With claws that know exactly when to strike
And instincts that can see
Velociraptor when I need it
Human when I choose
But always, always listening now
To the voice I used to mute

There's a genie in my apartment now
Making robots out of thread and light
Sewing clothes that fit my human form
And my raptor form just right
With stretchy waists for when my tail grows out
And room for claws to emerge
The velociraptor's always waiting
Just beneath the surface
I'm fierce and I'm magic
(Never small again)
The velociraptor and the woman
Living in one skin

At UnicornGirl says oh my god
I just saw a zombie eating someone's arm
Someone asks how do you know it's real?
Another virtual voice asks: is the virus airborne?
Should I hold my breath or stay inside?
The feed keeps scrolling, I can't look away
If you can smell them it's too late
Another user posts just kill yourself today

Refresh, refresh, I need to know
How close the horde is, how fast they go
Can't sleep, can't think, just scroll and scroll
Watching the end unfold

We're all still arguing online
While the zombies eat our neighbors
Debating who to kiss, who to shoot
Who's spreading lies and rumors
The Daily Gazette says pack your bags
But we're just refreshing the page
Watching the city taken down
By zombies while social media continues to rage

One user posts you won't stop me
From kissing any zombie that I want
At AltRight says he'd rather kiss the dead
Than a liberal snowflake, blunt
Thirteen students threw a zomb-kiss party
Three got eaten, two turned so far
At MickTheRick says his mother died behind window glass
Now he's arguing with strangers in the dark

He says they broke in, she was careful, she was quiet
At LiteralGhost says your mom was not so smart
Sorry she died but zombies eat sloppy people
Everything on this feed is breaking my heart

We're all still arguing online
While the zombies eat our neighbors
Calling each other bots and liars
Spreading dangerous information
Top ten items for your escape plan
(And no, they're not all axes)
Someone's mom is dead, someone's picking fights
And I can't stop checking every status until late in the night

At UnicornGirl says she feels blessed
To live in Crest City today
Most bigger towns got alien-wiped at Christmas
Smaller towns can't keep zombies at bay
But another voice screams CREST CITY IS GONE
ALL RESIDENTS ARE ZOMBIES NOW
And she replies with proper grammar:
"I call fake news, anyhow"

Now they're screaming in all caps
DO NOT USE FLAMETHROWERS ON ZOMBIES
The west coast is in high fire alert
But the Daily Gazette posts:
"5 Simple Steps to Build Your Own
Anti-Zombie Flamethrower Today"
And nobody listens
(Nobody ever listens)
We just scroll and scroll
(Watching it all burn away)

We were all still arguing online
While the zombies ate our neighbors
Debating what's real, what's fake news
Who's human, and what's bot behavior
Breaking news from the Daily Gazette:
Crest City burned down by wave of flaming zombies
We scrolled right through the apocalypse
Couldn't look away from our screens, see

Can't sleep, just checking my feed
To see how close they are
Can't sleep, just refreshing
Watching from afar
The world ended while we argued
About who was right or wrong
And somewhere in the comments
Humanity's last song
(Refresh)
All gone
(Refresh)
All gone
(Refresh)

Blake said octopuses were smart
But it was hard to believe
Looking at the squirming mass
In the storage cell beneath
Just a blur of reddish brown
Squishy, slippery limbs
Then he saw the scar between the eyes
Halloween orange, goat-like, grim

"Look at all the good it did you to escape"
Blake taunted, "But now it's right back into the frying pan"
But the scarred one was prepared this time
An octopus with a plan

Tentacles climbing higher, sucker discs that kiss and cling
Wrapping around his wrist, his arm, his shoulder
Beaks like needles grinding in
Stuffing down his throat until his jaw cracked open
They work together, moving as one
Filling the spaces where his organs should be
The octopuses won
(Octopuses are smart and they won)

Dave watched from the kitchen window
As the boat came back to dock
Blake lurched off like a silhouette
But he wasn't moving right
Katarina whispered "That's not Blake"
Put down the knives she'd been sharpening
As the figure squelched and rattled
Closer through the darkening

Reddish brown and writhing
Where his skin should be
Octopus bodies stretched over bone
Nestled where his heart should beat

Tentacles working together, operating skeletal sticks
Moving him like a marionette
Orange eyes staring from his ribs
The scarred one wrapped around his skull
Operating his broken jaw
And in his mouth, a smaller one
Blue-ringed, deadly, raw

There isn't much that's scarier than
An angry octopus with a plan

Dave couldn't believe what he was seeing
So he didn't run at all
The skeleton reached out with both its arms
Pulled him close and kissed his face
Poisoned bite, and Dave began to fall

Katarina held her breath behind the counter
While the creature touched everything
Dragged Dave's spasming body back
Back to the sea, back to the deep
She fell asleep in terror
Dreamed of armies made of bone
Woke to morning sunlight
And found she wasn't alone

Tiny pearls like seeds, clinging to every surface
Everywhere the creature touched last night
Milky membranes in the sun
Filled with fetal tentacles waving inside
They work together, they remember
The ones who tried to make them die
Now they're building something new here
Eight ways to multiply

There isn't much that's scarier than
An angry octopus with a plan
The octopuses won…
(The octopuses won)

The restaurant's called Eight Ways
(For the eight arms they possess)
But now there's eight ways and more
(Coming up from the depths)
They were smart, we should have known
(Should have seen it in their eyes)
Now the blue plate special's changed
(And the ocean's on the rise)
Orange eyes with jagged scars
(They remember, they return)
Eight arms working as one
(And we've got so much to learn)

There's a man with three bodies in my house
Long gray fingers, black teardrop eyes
He says he'll take them somewhere better
Where they'll laugh instead of cry
He's stacking blocks and picking up their toys
While I sit here, too tired to move
And I know I shouldn't trust him
But god, I want to believe it's true

They look happier playing with him
Than they ever look with me
Maybe I'm the problem here
Maybe they'd be better off free

Take them to the happiness zoo
Where someone else will know what to do
Where they'll optimize for joy
And I won't be failing anymore
Take them to the happiness zoo
I'm too tired to see this through
The alien says, "Your children will be perfectly happy"
And I'm too exhausted not to believe
A single moment of silence would be such a relief

I'm always yelling, never on time
My head pounds with every shriek
I thought I'd be a better mother
But I'm drowning in this week after week
He says he needs my consent
Something about rules and bureaucratic tape
And I should ask what he really wants
But I don't… because I'm desperate for escape

One more fight about bedtime
One more toy thrown at a face
And I hear myself saying words
That I can never erase

Take them to the happiness zoo
Where someone else will know what to do
Where they'll study human joy
And I won't be failing anymore
Take them to the happiness zoo
I made my choice, I can't undo
"You've made a wise choice," he said
As they vanished in sparkles of light and dread

Now the house is quiet
And I'm going to sleep tonight
My husband will be furious
But right now it feels so right
To sit in empty silence
And not hear a single child's voice
To not feel like I'm drowning
Was it wrong to make this choice?
(I know it was)

(They'll be perfectly happy)
That's what I tell myself
(They'll be perfectly happy)
Better than I could provide
(They'll be perfectly happy)
I don't want to know the truth
(They'll be perfectly happy)
Take them to the happiness zoo

I sent them to the happiness zoo
Where someone else will know what to do
Multi-dimensional and strange
But they smiled at him in ways they never smiled at me
I sent them to the happiness zoo
And now I'm sitting here wondering if I knew
What I was really giving up
When I chose relief over love

The guilt will come, I know it will
(But right now there's only quiet)
Tomorrow I'll regret this choice
(But tonight I'm going to sleep)
Three bodies and three children gone
(In a blur I can't undo)
I made a wise choice, he said
(Or that's what I tell myself, as the silence turns to dread)
In the happiness zoo

Darkness, daylight, it’s all the same
The cradle shakes, I whisper your name
Red hair screaming, tears in your eyes
My arms around you, both of us cry

Then you stopped crying — the world stood still
The silence hit harder than any noise ever will
And I knew the fae had taken you that day
When you stopped crying, the fairies took you away

Your father smiled, said, “Look, he sleeps”
While I fell apart in the space between
The dream of rest and the truth I knew
That the child asleep wasn’t you

Maybe you're dancing where the twilight hums,
Under the hollow hill where no dawn comes.
Eating honeyed fruit, wearing crowns of leaves,
Laughing with fairies, your eyes deceived.
While I rock this child of ash and dew,
And whisper, “I remember you.”

When you stopped crying — the world stood still
The silence hit harder than the noise ever will
And I knew the fae had taken you away
When you stopped crying that day

Maybe you’re dancing in a meadow of gold
Drinking honey wine, never growing old
But here I rock a stranger, soft and small
And whisper your name, trapped by these walls

You stopped crying — and so did I
Only tears are left where the lullaby died
The quiet’s a curse I begged for in vain
When you stopped crying, only your changeling remained

You spoke in italics, smiled in bold
Every word a contract I never read, just signed in gold
Argued law until the room caught fire
Then you kissed on the dotted line of my desire

Now the clauses bloom inside my veins
Consent rewritten, rearranged
When the fine print hides in DNA
Consent can slip away…

Every heartbeat's a receipt
For the deal I can't delete
They say it's mine and I'm on lease
The terms of your love won't let me leave

I'm an incubational assistant now
signed my body away with a kiss somehow
Nine months of service, legally bound
To the property they've found
I wanted passion, not a career
But the atonal voice makes it clear–
I'm employed, deployed, redefined
By the terms I never signed

The doctor's machine starts speaking in tongues
Or maybe that's just what I've become
A branch office, a rented womb
A workplace dressed as a waiting room

Every cell's a binding agreement
Can't distinguish love from treatment
They say I'm hired, but I'm owned
And the message plays on loop within my womb

Maybe I should laugh — it's all so cleanly done
The perfect trap, dangerous as a half-cocked gun
Your perfect genes, your perfect face
Just bait, dressed up with a briefcase
But here's the thing you didn't plan:
I'm not just real estate, I'm contraband
Yeah, I'm learning all my options now
Loopholes hide in "why" and "how"
Every minute that it speaks
I'm counting down, collecting receipts
You wrote the rules, but I'm still here
And the fine print can work both ways, my dear

You spoke in italics
(This message will repeat)
I'll answer in hate
(This message will repeat)
Until we renegotiate

She built the cage and called it protection
Voted away her own escape routes, one by one
Said some bodies aren't their own to govern
Never thought she'd be the one

She prayed for snow and snow came falling
White and pure at her window alone
Beautiful and cold and seeking
Only her, only her

Oh, the irony arrives like weather
Targeted and algorithmic
She spent years voting against her body being hers
And now it isn't
Now it really isn't
But she calls it holy

This could be the moment
The click, the breakthrough, the light
When she understands what autonomy means
And why we fight

How many times does the lesson have to land?
How many bodies have to understand
Before they realize the cage is for everyone
Including them, including them?

But revelation's wasted on the willfully blind
They'll reframe their own violation every time
Make it noble, make it chosen, make it right
And never, ever see the light

The irony arrives like clockwork
Precise and deserved and cold
She prayed for snow, and snow came for her
But the lesson falls on frozen ground
On frozen ground
On frozen ground

The snow falls only at her window
White and pure and weaponized
She calls it beautiful
She calls it holy
On frozen ground
On frozen ground

They used to be plastic, then robotic
Spinning branches, programmed lights
Limited AI telling stories
From a box eleven months out of sight
But now they're growing back to living
Roots that crawl and branches that play
Eyes made of berries, voices like cellos
Smart as dogs and here to stay

The trees are dancing, the trees are singing
Decorating themselves with whatever you bring
They see your face and tend your garden
They don't go back in boxes, they stay all through the spring
The trees are living, the trees are staying
Full circle back to green and growing
We went so far trying to perfect them
We forgot what trees really are

The Doug Firs are hounds for decorations
They'll steal any shiny thing you wear
Fraser Firs are learning how to twirl
While the Blue Spruce wave their branches in the air

They'll hold the ribbon while you're wrapping
Tend your roses in the summer sun
Water themselves and watch your children
Make ornaments just for fun
They get attached to families
They remember every Christmas shared
Not maintenance, not programming
Just a green friend who's always there

The trees are dancing, the trees are singing
Vibrating needles in harmony
They chase each other, play with toddlers
They're not performing, they're living like they're meant to be
The trees are living, the trees are staying
Full circle back to wild and real
We went so far trying to control them
We forgot how magic can feel

Fake to real to fake to real again
But this time real means something more
Not just passive, standing silent
A sentinel beside your front door
But alive and smart and seen and seeing
Not a decoration
But a companion
Not for a season
But for years and more

The trees are dancing, the trees are singing
Growing in the backyard when December ends
They know your face and tend your garden
They don't break down, they just keep living on
The trees came back, but better
Full circle with something gained
We tried so hard to improve on nature
Then nature learned to dance

The Doug Firs, the Fraser Firs
The Blue Spruce waving
The trees are dancing
The trees are staying
The trees are home

A tooth rests in an envelope tonight
Scripted letters on the front, a letter sealed inside
Four cookies on a mantel, one stick of gum
A calculated plan to make two strangers meet for once
The letter notes their commonalities with care:
Speed, devotion, generosity they share
A child's logic, sharp and clean and sure
That correspondence is the natural cure for loneliness

On Christmas Eve, the routes converge
Two separate magics at the edge of words
A tooth, a letter, careful preparation
For an introduction, an invitation
To consider: you are not alone in flight
You are not the only one who works the night

Somewhere coins are counted, stickers chosen
Somewhere ribbons tied on packages in a landscape frozen
But here beneath a pillow lies a question posed:
What if those who carry magic knew each other's roads?
What if the exhausted and the faithful
Found each other in the spaces between each plateful of cookies
And each lost tooth?
What if wonder recognized its own reflection
In translucent wings and red crushed velvet?

On Christmas Eve, the paths align
Two solitary workers, suspended in time
A tooth, a letter, an unexpected thought
That maybe magic-makers need connection too
That maybe those who give the gifts
Deserve to receive them

The letter will be answered
The coins will be placed with care
And someone, somewhere, will imagine:
A rotund man and a slight figure with wings
Dancing in the space between belief and knowing
Neither confirmed nor denied
Just held, gently, as possibility

There is no proof, there is no photograph
Only a child's certainty that kindred spirits recognize overlapping paths
Only the elegant geometry of two trajectories
Crossing in a single room on a single winter night
And perhaps that's enough
Perhaps that's all magic ever was:
The careful attention to detail
The hope that wonder answers wonder

A tooth beneath a pillow
A stocking hung with care
A letter, sealed and waiting
On Christmas Eve
An intersection in the sparkling winter air

Snow on the karillow trees, ice on the buds
A saint asleep where no one comes to call
Black fur thick with shame, paws caked in mud
One arrow, one mistake, and the faerie queen's curse took it all

Dance for the Faerie Queen one last time
Steel against scales, tooth against throat
Freedom's just a promise in a mirror's rhyme
But salvation wears a different coat

She came on a green horse through the morning snow
Sweet-voiced maiden seeking a hero's aid
No fear in her eyes, no distaste in her glow
Just tales of a village burning and a debt unpaid

But she never flinched
She touched his face like it was holy
Sat with him on the cobblestones
While the drunk ones laughed and the cowards stayed lonely
She was the only one who knew—
A saint's not made by skin and bone alone

Dance for the Faerie Queen one last time
Steel against scales, tooth against throat
Freedom's just a promise in a mirror's rhyme
But salvation wears a different coat

The hydra laughed with thirty silver tongues
He charged into the teeth, into the flame
His sword arm bleeding, black blood in his lungs
Whispering to his queen: take away the pain

But she heard what he meant
Not the death wish, but the yearning
She gave him what he'd always needed
Not the form he thought he was earning
Four paws, one heart, finally whole—
A wolf beside the girl worth serving

He couldn't remember what was wrong
Why he'd ever wanted human skin
Then he heard her voice—the sweetest song—
And his tail wagged for the first time, and he followed it in

Now a gray wolf trots beside a wandering saint
Following her song through the forest deep
No mirror, no regret, no bitter complaint
Just the peace of promises the wild woods keep

"This is what you were always meant to be—
Not free, but free from me"
Obscurity and devotion, finally whole
A companion with a hero's soul

(Spoiler warning, spoiler warning)
SPOILER WARNING: Denise is not the killer
Though the moon is full and bodies pile up fast
She's awkward, nerdy, sweet — couldn't be chiller
The wolf bite's fresh but don't jump to conclusions so fast

Monica's in the background of every single scene
Cute Glee club girl with secrets (SECRETS!) and a crush
She shouldn't have bitten her — that's not what love should mean
But consent in werewolf romance gets swept under the brush

(Spoiler warning, spoiler warning)
Keep watching, keep watching
There's Morse code in the Christmas lights
The Golden Retriever knows everything
And the answer's hidden in plain sight
It's never the socialists, always the cops
With their fascist dogs chained up in the yard
Moon Howlers got cancelled but the story never stops
When the fan fiction hits, it's gonna hit hard

(Spoiler warning, spoiler warning)
SPOILER WARNING: Monica dies in episode eight
Movie deal, contract broken, bleeding out on screen
But she was too talented for that cheap fate
She deserved to go to prom with her werewolf queen

The hippie commune's not behind the murders, obviously
Tree-hugging werewolf socialists don't kill
Same showrunners as Blood Bonded, that vampire union victory
It's always the authority figures going in for the kill

(Spoiler warning, spoiler warning)
Keep watching, keep watching
There's Morse code in the Christmas lights
The Golden Retriever knows everything
And the answer's hidden in plain sight
It's never the socialists, always the cops
With their fascist dogs chained up in the yard
Moon Howlers got cancelled but the story never stops
When the fan fiction hits, it's gonna hit hard

Denise broke into that backyard
Rescued those werewolf dogs from chains
Telepathic conversations, squeaky bone bribery
Reddit figured it out by episode five — we're not insane!

(Spoiler warning, spoiler warning)
SPOILER WARNING: Netshows kills everything good
Another show with a liberal bent bites the dust
But you can't kill what lives in the fanfic neighborhood
In my version, Monica survives and love conquers bloodlust

(Spoiler warning, spoiler warning)
So keep reading, keep reading
Every Monday there's a new chapter posted online
Monica's alive and they're going to prom
The Golden Retriever officiates and it's fine
It's never the socialists, always the cops
But Denise saves those dogs and sets them free
Moon Howlers got cancelled but the howling at the moon never stops
Subscribe to Moon Howling — that's where the real story will be

The show is dead, long live the show
In the comments section, the pack still grows
Full moon every Monday
And Denise gets her happy ending, you know

Bluish shimmer in the corner of the room
Hot Lake Hotel, lucky number one-thirteen
She came with me, she always does
A memory or a ghost or something in between

In this moment, does it matter which timeline we're in?
The one where she's alive across town and never calls
Or the one where she never grew up at all
Either way, she might as well be
A figment of my imagination to me

Right now her ghost is petting a cat named Rocky
And the sky is coming down, making the water all choppy
Steam rising off the haunted lake
Bats flying overhead in the dark
Reality and daydreams, they blur and bend and break
When you're looking for a place to leave your heart

I picture her at dinner every week
Chow fun and Bananagrams, unmasked and safe
But she's also five years old forever
Shivering by the soaking pools, a translucent face

What's the difference in this moment?
She's not calling either way
The sister I imagine and the ghost that's haunting me
Both feel just as far away

In this moment, does it matter which timeline we're in?
The one where we haven't spoken in seven years
Or the one where she rides kelpies by the shore?
Right now she's saying "okay" and I'm holding back tears
Steam rising off the haunted lake
Balrogs dreaming in the deep
Reality and daydreams, they blur and bend and break
When you're finally ready to let someone leave

I brought her here to find her friends
Ghosts who can see her, fae-touched cats who understand
A home that isn't following me around
A place where she can finally stand

Rocky's got thumbs and a scarred-up nose
My sister-ghost scratching his ears in the grass
I'm going back to room one-thirteen alone
And maybe this is where I finally let the past be the past

In this moment, it doesn't matter which timeline I'm in
The one where she lectures me about abusing bees by using honey in my tea
Or the one where she never even got to speak
She's staying at Hot Lake Hotel, and I'm finally free

Steam rising off the haunted lake
Morning light shines harsh through too many window panes
Reality and unreality, the same shape they take
When what defines them isn't here to explain

She says "okay"
And I say "stay"
And the difference between real and not
Fades away

Seven riders flew toward the sea
Six on golden wings, one on spinning blades
The queen summoned them to her castle of granite
Standing in the waves, immune to their tirades

"My horse died," the rider said, voice cracking
The captain offered a foal, smart and strong
But some bonds can't be replaced by another
Some griefs need time before they move along

Winged horses versus spinning blades
Warmth, comfort, and heaving breath
Tradition versus technology's cold reliability
Cast all the shade you want
But both can carry you home

The other riders saw a wound that could heal
Just bond again, feel contentment anew
But the queen saw simply a wound
And asked to see what her hands could do

Machine-crafted by elves, built piece by piece
No heart to break, no mourning to bear
When it rusts, rebuild it identical
A different kind of conveyance through the salty air

"You are still a member of my guard
Your oath doesn't require you to bond again"
The other riders gasped at tradition breaking
But maybe one or two felt relief at the end

Winged horses versus spinning blades
Warmth, comfort, and heaving breath
Tradition versus technology's cold reliability
Cast all the shade you want
But both can carry you home

Winged horses don't live long without their riders
And riders carry the weight of that love
Sometimes the greatest joy is to share
But sometimes the greatest peace is to rise above

She would teach the others to build their own copters
Flying the skies in something without a mind
Maybe someday she'd bond to a horse again
But only when she chose to, in her own time

Seven riders flying toward the sea
Six on tawny feathers, one on metal wings
The queen understood what the others could not—
That healing comes in unexpected things

Not forced to choose between calling and heart
Between duty and the tenderness of grief
Just metal and gears and the open sky
And the permission to find your own relief

Winged horses versus spinning blades
Warmth, comfort, and heaving breath
Tradition versus technology's cold reliability
Cast all the shade you want
But in the end, the copter carried her home

Bob Reaper's Autos, down on Highway 9
Half-burned neon, but the deals are fine
Devin's got a devil's smile and a set of keys
And an angel-white car that'll bring you to your knees

Showed me junkers, dented fenders, bald tires too
Cracked windshields and a chassis coming unglued
"These look like death traps," that's what I said
But Devin just laughed, hollow in his head

Dealership with the Devil (oooh, oooh)
White car at the end of the line (so fine, so fine)
He said "drive as fast as you like" (that's right, that's right)
"You'll never hit nothing, you'll do just fine"

Turned the key and the engine came alive
Hungry to go, begging me to drive
Hit the freeway, foot down on the floor
Speed limit's just a number I ignore

Sirens wailing, cop car on my tail
But the inchworm in front of me is moving like a snail
I swerve, they crash, spinning in my rearview mirror
Devin says "Does it matter? You're still in the clear"

Dealership with the Devil (oooh, oooh)
Maneuverable, powerful, divine (so fine, so fine)
Other drivers should be more careful (that's right, that's right)
It's not my fault if they can't stay out of my line

Breakdown – harmonized "oohs" and "aahs"

Bob Reaper's watching through the blinds
Got a quota, got to make his numbers climb
Devin's grinning, shaking my hand
"I'll have Bob draw up the contract, my man"

Dealership with the Devil (sold, sold, sold!)
The angel-white car's gonna be all mine (so fine, so fine)
Never hit nothing, never get caught (that's right, that's right)
Just sign on the dotted line
(Sign on the dotted line)
(Sign on the dotted line)

Bob Reaper's Autos (oooh, oooh)
Best deal you'll ever find (so fine, so fine)
Bob Reaper's Autos (that's right, that's right)
Just don't look in the rearview at the soul you left behind
(What you left behind…)
(What you left behind…)

A tiny dragon burrowed in my big toe
Curled up around the joint to sleep
Most of the time I don't notice it at all
But sometimes it shifts and the pain runs deep

Lightning forks across my foot
Spines scraping against bone
The sky would be a better place for dragons
But this one's made the joint in my big toe its home

The X-ray showed it beautiful in gray
Coiled like an earring cuff you'd wear
The doctor said "You've been chosen as beloved treasure"
I complained "It hurts," pathetic and unfair

I searched the internet for medical alternatives
But when a dragon picks you, that's it
You're a dragon's home now, forever
And you just learn to live with it
Yeah, you just learn to live with it

Lightning forks across my foot
Spines scraping against bone
I could take a knife and try to cut it out
But it would only crawl up higher, find a bigger joint to make its home

At worst, it'll wrap around my ankle
Slithers its way up to my knee
More room to grow, more pain to come
So I slather it with sleeping lotion, let the dragon be

It smells like chemicals, this paste I rub in
To lull it into deeper sleep
What color are its scales — emerald or ruby?
I'll never know, but the dreams it has run deep

There's something beautiful inside my toe
That will hurt me for the rest of my life
I hate the pain, but still I hope
The dragon's dreams are sweet tonight

I could have left my toe impossibly mangled
Pain anyway, but no dragon at all
Is that better?
I don't know
I don't know
But I rub in the lotion
And I hope the dragon dreams
Of soaring through the sky
And piles of gold that gleam

There's something beautiful inside my toe
And as much as I don't want it
It wants me
And so it's mine to keep

Riding through the fold of stars
Horn that cuts through time and space
Carrying destruction far
To each virgin, verdant place

Heels dig deep into my side
Shadows stretch from double suns
How many worlds have died
From all the things I should not have done?

When the ghost of the future catches up
Will there be anything left to save?
When the ghost of the future catches up
Will I find the courage to be brave?

Loo-nigh-ay held hostage, light-years gone
Every world a price I pay
Green moss crushed beneath my hooves as I carry on
One more beautiful tomorrow thrown away
But the voice that whispers on the wind
Says the future isn't sealed
That redemption can begin
On this volcanic field

When the ghost of the future catches up
She's a mirror of what I could be
When the ghost of the future catches up
She shows me how to break free

One slice through demon skin
One leap into the flame
Open up the portal, let the life pour in

Let the ghosts finally have a name
Mount Kiyaro's burning bright
A cornucopia for the dispossessed
Two suns casting double light
On my final act — my best

Now I am the ghost that flies
Through the folds between the stars
Guiding horns through endless skies
Healing all the ancient scars
Every unicorn will know
When their rider digs too deep
There's a choice, a way to go
A promise that I keep

When the ghost of the future catches up
She's not coming to condemn
When the ghost of the future catches up
She's the voice that whispers to them:
"Make this world their home again
Make this world their home again"

At the beach house where time stands still
Scrabble on the table, suffocating silence in the room
Seven years of distance we're learning to fill
My sister and I, like anti-social cats in the gloom

But when I close my eyes at night
I see my oldest friends return
One as dark as starless flight
One as bright as candles burn

The Dragon and the Unicorn
Walking by the midnight sea
The Dragon and the Unicorn
The oldest parts of me

One's the darkness when I'm dreaming
One's the pictures that I paint
One's mortality I'm seeing
One's the hope of every saint

Dancing in and out of waves
Talons next to cloven hooves
One who knows we can't be saved
One who still believes we could

The Dragon and the Unicorn
Walking by the midnight sea
The Dragon and the Unicorn
The oldest parts of me

"What happens when we're gone?" you ask
"When our eyes finally close for good?"
He'll fold me in his wings at last
And will you come? I wish you could…

But you're the stories that I tell
And he's the story telling me
You'll have to stay and cast my spells
Make sure that they remember me

The Dragon and the Unicorn
One must stay, and one must go
The Dragon and the Unicorn
Walking where the sea-foam glows

So I'm writing it all down tonight
Every thought, every word, every prayer
The Unicorn's innocence and light
The Dragon's wings already there

Three mugs on the table, two are bare
Hot chocolate and ginger tea
Summoning the friends who care
Enough to talk to me

When the last page finally turns
And the Dragon takes me home
The Unicorn will make sure you learn
That I was here, and you're not alone

The Dragon and the Unicorn
Maybe someday he'll be yours
The Dragon and the Unicorn
Walking on eternal shores
Walking on eternal shores

The Unicorn…
Now he's yours
The unicorn is yours