"Lost"

Prologue

There is a place in the darkest alleys
lost and abandoned centuries ago,
where it twists and turns and winds so deeply
there’s no hope of finding one’s way to go

Within this unfamiliar Babylon,
this gateway of passages intertwined
if escape should evade you ere the dawn
the urban scape you knew you’ll never find

For once here, when you should turn around
you’ll find your residence far from the city
in a terrene which has yet to be found
by cartographers or those who seek it

To find this place one must be so far lost
that every way to go’s an equal toss

Some have reached this place through labyrinth or forest
others through turbulent storm and rapacious sea
Those who seek this place will have no rest
if they hold knowledge of where they be

Yet search they still for the notorious bridge
which all those lost are said to’ve crossed before,
An arch across neither river nor gorge
whose vanity urges to be explored

On our side of this bridge shall we begin
with the aid of all but dear Urania,
for all leave her might find their way within
the starless land of Reven Erehwè

So Urania, fair muse, be on your way.
In you I invoke neglect for Lost’s prey.


Canto I

It was a day at the cusp of winter
sapped of life and grey with overcast skies.
Late in noon when the cool mist grew thicker,
and the clouds veiling the sun lost their light.

The streets of London had thinned of their crowds
and the alleys left all but abandoned,
Only pigeons still flooded the city in bounds
save a soul present as a wisp of air; disturbing no one

He wore clothes of the darkest shades; heavy
and loose, with a coat reaching past his knees
and fingerless gloves worn frayed and dirty
from countless days of rugged wandering.

His face and build betrayed a man yet young,
though his ageless eyes told a different tale;
so dark with witness to a world of wrongs,
the yellow-green within could not rebel.

This pair gazed far beyond reality,
on a place he’d vowed to never return.
A place where peace is short-lived fantasy
between long years of struggle undeserved.

Lost’s cherished land of broken wings
In his heart he felt her calling him through
dreams lost, and lives lost, of loss in all things
His home forever, an unwelcome truth

But why after years of untroubled thoughts
had his mind once again fallen to dreams?
After all this time condemned and forgot
so ill an omen was the worst of things

These thoughts churned through his mind uneasily
though his step felt nothing of this heaviness
His walk and smile still came naturally
like a commander used to such distress

and to liken him to such might not be
so far off as one might first imagine
for there isn’t much of peace in the stories
of Reven, one known to all in that land

Reven forced his harrowing thoughts from mind
and took a moment to breathe it all in.
Then released it, letting his tightened chest untwine
as he started home where Lost awaited him.

Yet even there was no sanctuary
for she was of the land of Erehwè
and though of her land she recalled nothing
His thoughts were uncured by her amnesia

Only a greater burden did it rest
on a mind already struggling with weight
for how could he tell her of their dark past
and keep her where he knew she would be safe?

Yet how could he lie to her loving face
when she asked him of how things once were?
Struggling to remember that special place
that had only been a shared dream in war?

And how many times could she be convinced
by explanations that could never be?
How should he explain that their home exists
yet hasn’t since the nineteenth century?

How should he explain why she gets no mail?
or phonecalls or visits from friends?
That her parents are in the depths of hell,
with tombstones of fine dust; so long since dead

Best to start before she was known as Lost
but even then she’d known only her name
Seraya Alexandris Aizenghast
the first of Erehwè, or so they say

He’d told her her name, but had said no more
to protect her life he would damn the rest
but as his hand reached for the door
He nailed the cause of his mind’s unrest.