Hannya Kay
Through Hades and Beyond
…………Crown Cinquain
A path
of stones and sand
will stretch along the sky
for those who die alone. Why should
I fear?
I fear
in darkened dread,
my life a memory
that ebbs and wanes, forlorn. Where would
I run?
I run
along the path,
its stones so sharp, its sand
the dust of brittle bones. Who should
I call?
I call
the gods. Silence.
My steps falter, the sky
aloft a twirling void. When will
it end?
It ends.
But what is there
beyond? A tear of grief?
Final relief? Or, once again,
a path …
_______________
Hannya Kay is a late-blooming ESL speculative writer with words in Nature Futures and Black Hare Press Patreon. For the time being, she can be found in the Spanish countryside where she lives with her husband, two teenage sons and a fluffy dog. And the random stray cat or sneaky snake.
Backstory & Author’s Comments: The inspiration for this poem came from a visual prompt, as is often the case for me. The illustration I was admiring represented a floating pathway winding and waning through the void and into a blurry distance. I was eager to follow this path, to imagine who would walk on these stones, and what the destination could be. Although I originally developed it as a journey through hell, it is no surprise to me that the poem meanders as well in the realm of the living, along the meandrous path we attempt to trace for ourselves, only to end up lost in an endless loop of loneliness and indecision. I chose a crown cinquain as the form of the poem as a way to enhance the circularity of the narrative.
Editor’s Comments and Image Credit: The image was created with the input of “a path from Hades along the sky of dust from brittle bones into a swirling path; show small skulls along the Hades path” to an image generator (Wixel by Wix.com).