except, i think, there's no stopping the passage of time
the devil sheds his sins, rises into the sky
wings slowly unfolding behind him, his name
reclaimed, the golden glow of
glory and love, creeping back into his skin
until he's a creature unfallen, purring
gently at the feet of god, kissing
the hem of his robes;
look! now, into the past, who
casts his grey eyes upon us, sombre
mourning the boats filled with lost souls
bound for the fields of eternal half-existence
look! now, into the future, who
glances down with glorious disdain
ferrying the endless possibilities of the living
into the horizon
and look! now, into the present, who
stares right back as though through a mirror
through the surface of water, as he drowns
sinking deeply and slowly into the earth,
shackled to ambitions and anxieties
you: reach out trying to grab him but he’s always a fingernail’s length away and god you fucked up again didn’t you why are you always like this you piece of shit you stupid piece of shit now everything’s fucked and you’ll never get another chance again but you don’t deserve it anyway do you because nobody loves you nobody will miss you when you’re gone and
you, a few hours later: fuckin’ devil lied to me
devil: thought this was what you wanted
you: how is this what i wanted?
devil: you asked for a four-dimensional view of existence
you: i did
devil: this is it
you:
devil: i did what i could, and now you live in the past, present, and future
devil: except, i think, there’s no stopping the passage of time
devil, thinking of his parlor trick from the beginning of your interaction: for you, anyway
🐝 - Inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, especially this quote:
“It was a movie about American bombers in World War II and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation. The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers , and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans though and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new. When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.”