The King's Memory
And the subjects who should have remembered him.
They don’t remember me the way I remember them.
I leech the details from the memories, suck them dry.
A face, a name, the way my arms can be bent like a doll.
The laughter at a joke, the wrinkles beside their eyes.
Nothing substantial kept.
Everything of substance swallowed.
.
They don't remember me the way I remember them.
Favorite colors: golden egg yolks and purple sunsets.
My eye color is forgotten like the first snow in October...
But I know it matches the color of your favorite sweater.
The value of my words shrivel with time.
But there are whole worlds conceived from yours.
.
There is an anomaly in the universe,
Something of a mystical field of warping vision and memory
That clings to me like a cursed veil.
It hovers in front of my face, holographic sheen twisting
Until there is nothing left to remember of me.
Until I am a mutilated, passed-around story.
.
I cry and scream and bang useless fists against the veil.
It slips out as toothy smiles
And acquiescing words
That paint me as some sort of pacifistic peddler of dreams
When I am a cruel king
With lives wound aroung my fingers like jewels.
.
Shall I tug on the strands?
Toss the rings into a dark case and forget them
As they have misplaced the memories of me?
No because the secrets that makes their feet flee or freeze or fight
Belong to me and my memory.
I am the king of their miseries, the queen of their terror.
And still, they cannot be bothered to remember me.
About the Creator
Silver Serpent Books
Writer. Interested in all the rocks people have forgotten to turn over. There are whole worlds under there, you know. Dark ones too, even better.
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Comments (3)
This is so beautifully written. I had to pause for a minute to re-read and soak up, "Favorite colors: golden egg yolks and purple sunsets." Gorgeous and poignant.
This brought such nostalgia, words do matter when you want to convey your message. you are so great at it.
Oof why did I feel this to my utter core. You have such a way with words. Well done 👍