One Hand Clapping
by Nightfall

For exhilarated motion, for the steelsong brightly ringing,
For the blinding dizzy circle of a dragon on the wing.
For tomorrow's endless onwards and blood pounding still within me
And to never feel the tear again of steel beneath the skin--
Never feel it, never see it on the fools who ride beside me
Or to hear a fearful falter in a boast or swaggered sin;
Just to know that when a mirror comes the eyes will rise to greet it,
And a smirk will come unmindful under brows that stay unknit.
For the shatter of the world as it diffuses for a target,
And the moment's crystal clarity on dodging a near miss,
Because bigotry's as galling as the red abyss of madness,
To stave off the slings and acids of bleak memory's direst debt.
As the gods are full of bullshit and the mortal live on lies,
As the world is tinged with nightmare in the dimming of known eyes,
Let the burn and rush of muscle prison ghosts deep in the shelf.
For the purpose of returning to a life that's worth the living
I stand equal to the challenges the gods insist on giving:
From my birth until death claims me, I fight only for myself.
[end]