"Thirteenth" by Declan's Corrective, Co-Governor of Seneschal, former Ace Pilot of the New Earth Hegemony

Before these clinquant peaks

And Quire-fashioned streets

And shimmering cataract falls

Before this was home

Before Seneschal

There was me

Stiff shoulder muscle

Knotted, bloody, scarred

And chess table politics

And cricket yard brawls

And father's frantic calls

To lessons he'd swore I'd need

To seed a future year

With countless victories

Before we walked together gleaming

Before Drifting, my reprise

Before diarchy and comedy

Before Cadent beaming:

Me

Before Notion

Before violence

Before Vanguard, Apogee

Before Evening

Before promise

Before vision from dark sea

I walked down courtyards, and looked to spheres

And whispered treacherous dreams

To peers who'd disappeared

No schemers left to scheme

Just me and castle

Just me and hope

Just me, naive, and mouth of soap

This is not apology

This is dedication writ in flesh

No more "fighting spirit"

No more streets, bent

No more "what I really meant"

This is Tender wound

Me, threshed

On a dusted windowsill

An ant lifts a sugar grain

Plodding under false sunlight

Through spotted windowpane

And on the other side a child

Runs through a sprinkler stream

And screams

And laughs

And worries what's to be

Stiff shoulder muscle

Knotted, bloody, scarred

A dedication the a world-to-be

To victory

To fall

This week on Twilight Mirage: This Year of Ours: The Mystic

Mind over matter is magic I do magic

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Austin Walker

Music by Jack de Quidt

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