Opus 1855: Star-treading

Phillip A. Ellis

I.

Over the stars I tread:
knowing no dread,
spaces bridged by feet
knowing no defeat
tread I. Lord, and master,
ever faster
pass the gulfs I've seen,
wearing my mien
expectant, lordly and dour--
over each moor
of vast unformèd gas,
my feet pass
unto the ways of suns
whose names unwrung
shatter in tongues of worlds
lying pearled
far from man. And God
knows not
whither I tread, or've seen
vistas and scenes
wondrous, and truly far
and truly bizarre--

II.

Almijaez awaits the foot
bound by neither field nor foot;
Meurix is incarnadine,
as are Fheiris and Klourine;
fair is Deuf who waltzes round
twinnèd stars: Nairos and Krownd;
Bvasouir braves edges sharp
of the galaxy; and Fvarpf
glitters evanescent, pure
nigh the gulfs of Omnivour.

See the ways of Milchis bright,
fast against Domnivar's night;
see where Vilchis spreads its rings,
hear the sonnets Bvaxcaz sings.
Fgil and Veyz alike are dim
nigh unto the mighty rim
of the fields of Nôm and Fkoos
where Mizhelzac wanders loose
deep within hydroxic seas
where the gods of Ghellac breed.


III

Unto stars of all beauty
far from duty,
have I trod. No god
or demon shod
in flesh of majesty
could ever see
half the sights my eyes
have called their prize.
Stars unnamed, and known,
all of them flown
past my tread have told
whispers old
of aeons past and gone--
long, long--
from song or speech or else mind.
None find
deep within my passage
the bright message
stars sing and proclaim--
named and unnamed.
Mighty stars I know,
thither I go:
unto galaxies vast,
present, past
and future alike. Till,
my vast will
knoweth all the worlds of space,
knoweth grace,
knoweth all the secrets dim
from rim to rim
of universes vast and small;
knowing all,
greater than the gods shall I
see with my eye,
mote and mote within
glory and sin.
Shadow and light alike
shall fall and break
us waves on memnons cold,
and aeons old.
Greater than gods, I'll tread,
crushing each's head.

Top of Page