Burning, Shining, Creeping, Laughing

[Charles Revitt]

[For Becky & Tony]

We tripped the hills and the trees.
Myself and two others.
Three days and nights of no sleep in the realm of madness.
We built a fire that never died.
The forest was alive with forgotten dimensions.
Language was beyond us
And we were beyond language.
The moon was full & old. Cold.
Rain fell softly, gently from behind.
Memories of the next life flooded my fragile mind as I did automatic writings of a twice spoken tongue.
We were together. Closer than ever before.
Yet more distant than the darkest of stars.
More alone than Death Himself.

Our heads were on fire. Burning.
Our eyes were diamonds. Shining.
Insanity getting closer. Creeping, laughing.

I watched the undying fire, breathing in its smoke. I became lost.
No longer in the forest, I was back in a city.
At a house, familiar. I knew not where.
Seeing faces, friendly. I knew not who.
feelings, strange. I knew not what.
Opening my eyes I again saw trees.
A devils head ablaze in the fire
And two distant figures close beside me
Lost in their own worlds.
All of us, together, lost in our own words.
Sleep finaly washing over us.

I awoke before dawn on the cold january morning.
The fire was exhailing its final breath.
The death of an undying fire.
I sat alone, bewildered, trying to gather the broken pieces of me as the first light of day shone its friendly face through the forest.
My friends appeared from out of the tent.
Faces fresh with experience.
Eyes darkened, yet still shining.
Cheeks sullen and drawn, yet more radiant than ever before.

"How was it for you?" I wondered
The answer was obvious
C.R.
June 1997