Ammutseba Rising

By Ann K Schwader.

“At first, a spectral haze against the darkness,

some apparition less of mist than hunger

made visible afflicts our evening.

Stars within it flicker, fettered by corruption

we sense but dimly. Terrible & ancient,

it murmurs in the dreams of chosen daughters.

Not it, but She ... Chaos Incarnate’s daughter,

thought-spawned at random from that primal darkness

past memory or myth returns.

What ancient sorceries survive to wake such hunger

in times like ours? What spirit of corruption

endures to threaten these well-charted stars?

Minds blind to science, doubtful of the stars,

accustomed to dominion over daughters

& wives alike, defy this world’s corruption with ignorance.

No curse, but blessed darkness

obscuring every sin — or any hunger

for truth beyond the authorized & ancient.

Above us now, authority more ancient

than mankind manifests.

As fading stars surrender up their essence to a hunger

yet unsuspected by our science,

daughters of ignorance awake. Unveiled from darkness,

they lift their faces. Savor sweet corruption.

Arched like a crime-scene silhouette,

corruption assumes the form of female. Feral.

Ancient opener of all the ways to darkness,

Her mystery eclipses tarnished stars

we kept for wishing on. Perhaps our daughters

will walk in shadow gladly,

holding hunger inside them for a weapon. Nameless hunger

reshaped their spirits: should we fear corruption in doing likewise?

All of us are daughters denied some truth or other;

craving ancient wisdom like the bitterness of stars

against Her tongue, expiring into darkness.

No dawn remains.

O daughters called by ancient hunger,

know the truth of your corruption:

Devourer of Stars, perfected darkness.”

Excerpt From

She Walks in Shadows

Silvia Moreno-Garcia & Paula R. Stiles

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