In the dark woods, beyond blood-flecked pines, a silent pool (a portal) shimmers. Gaze in. Look hard. Glitch the mind’s eye. See the new moon static in a smoke-hazed sky. Uncanny. You’ve no reflection here. (You are not here.) Do not look away as the water whirls. Stare deeper, edge closer, surrender to the FALL. (fall) fall into… hell (not hell) nor paradise. A grand apparition in silver monochrome flickers. Flames dance in orichalcum bowls, reflection pools line a marble hall. This ruinous temple still astounds. Still. Be still. Listen. There is no fear here. Listen. Listen as spectral echoes of moments lived: melodies, motifs, refrains drip, splaszh, cascade. As azd rain lines Poseidon’s walls, a pyre towers before glistening throne. A ceremony (a requiem) begins. Awash with silken sound and aqueous haze, elevated above blue-black flames, floating. Floating up/down, down/up. Swoop up/down out and into the infinite waters beyond. In this dove-grey sky beneath the waves, dolphins chatter and spray amid piercing moon rays. This dove mellow – under the trees and woods and earth and blood – is where you are (reflected). Now and before/forever (rip)