Gold at War

Oh dear, my friend.

Those golden stars were just too bright

to ignore, weren’t they?

Tread carefully,

for gold hides

its secrets in decorative battle armor.

The shine held the key to her library

until you gave up everything to claim it,

gave up every key to your own.

But gold is a fool’s prize to learn

that the book you paid to read was a shroud

of angry, tangled weeds.

Use only the harshest sword to cut them down

with only the most gentle grip. It’ll take strength

to find the story you’ll regret reading after the fight you call noble.

Arrive scarred, and go ahead. Pull the pages that are strewn

off the single shelf. They never were quite in order -

I’ve always watched them fly down randomly.

Prepare to read the most important story. But wait -

is it one, or nearly two?

The difference, to her, varies in each moment.

I’ll tell you this: start at page one.

But don’t forget to start at page fifty, too. Maybe the one hundredth

will show you the dire complexity of the choice you really made.

It’s like a fairytale, or perhaps a superhero film.

Except this time, it doesn’t end at two hours, or ten,

or a million. It has locked you in the librarian’s walls forever.

Good luck

finding the exit. It must be the single locked door

you used to follow gold inside.

Heroes and villains always make you choose.

The shine will fall to rusted ashes

no matter which direction you decide to walk in.

Flip to the first page that you’d like,

for I am far too curious to see

which cruelty and self-harm you’d dive head first for.

(1) The hero says she wants to spark up your life with the most graceful burn.

(50) The villain says that everything she is is everything you never deserved.

(19) The hero says she’s ready to see what you love so much about the water.

(78) The villain says she’s scared the ocean will drown her joy and she’ll falter.

(31) The hero says her day of laughter, words and music is her fresh start’s new tool.

(97) The villain says that getting her hopes up only makes her a greater fool.

(8) The hero says she’s ready to be your strength that’s firm and stern.

(61) The villain says she feels like a cement block on your chest if she asks for the same in return.

(4) The hero says she wants to know what hurts you, ails you, makes you want to fight the world.

(82) The villain says that one more unhappy story will make her heart finally uncurl.

(18) The hero says she’s trying to give herself the same look you give her in the mirror.

(75) The villain says that the reflection makes every one of her tears hurt.

(40) The hero says she believes she’s worthy of how you feel.

(79) The villain says that every night, she wonders what the fuck you ever saw in her movie reel.

(23) The hero says she knows you deserve her best, and she’ll shower you in it for gold.

(91) The villain says that gold never mattered, her best is the guarded cellar in her stronghold.

(45) The hero says that she knows her strength and holds it in her hand.

(56) The villain says she’s afraid of how heavy her weaknesses will make her land.

(38) The hero says she wants to find her own gold again; she wants to get better.

(60) The villain says, what the hell, she’d love to watch flames cradle it all like an unwanted letter.

(100) The hero says her heart has grown twenty times bigger just by giving it to you.

(100) The villain says that doesn’t matter; your disappointment is long overdue.

So, you’ve closed the book. Tell me, friend, have you lost the key?

Or are you taunted, tormented, and unable to get free?

How long are you willing to stay? How long are you willing to bleed?