Becoming Pahn

.…on the road
with Nomioss
Ahgreyeuss is exploring the dry
and golden buckeye woodland

warm and dusty

They stop at a monument
and climb a loose path of
decomposed granite
                                           stone steps to
                                            a commemorative obelisk

a ruin
looking out over the
hills of fading green
                                        and oak

into a violent distance

Remembering
                                          the past war
they see tanks maneuvering
across a riddled plain

              missiles
              explode into the peaty valley floor
and Ahgreyeuss shudders at the prospect            
of crossing into that scene              
but his brother reassures him
                                                     turning him away
saying

“It is not for us”

Ahgreyeuss leaves his brother
                                                     walks west down the ridge
alone among stairways
                             olive and gray stone

He finds and greets
a ranger
                    guide green
                           who brings him to the temple columns

and leads him
                         inside
through a door like a tunnel

And here in the dim church
                          with shafts of light
                          illuminating dust
grand pianos are arranged
                               like pews
closed and soundless
The rangers               
                                      wearing black robes
performing rites                like a marriage
or sacrifice
intimidating                     serious
possessing and regulating
access to their realm
they allow the young man                                      to approach the altar

But as he approaches the end
of the aisle
he sees to his left
                                       a way out
and goes to it like water
that finds its way through a constriction

Now he
                                        is in a pale hall
like the back of an old house
                                                      used as an office
and there are two doors to consider

Behind the white one
is a universe
                         of old furniture
             utensils
                          unused pianos
                                     windows
              but no way out
and a floor
too cluttered to walk

Behind the pale green door
there is a bedroom
           with a woman lying in
                    black sheets
                         a nightgown
staring
              light
the gentle curves of her body
                                                         showing
                      through the thin
                                 and soft
                                  films of cloth

Ahgreyeuss is looking

for the end of the building
                                             a door
around the white walls                                     
                                            and bedding
and slips into the sheets
with her

Then

as he turns to hold her
                              the land begins to shake
and the walls to fall away
                                        noisily
allowing the sunlight
to fill the air

revealing                                                     
the open landscape again
with no roads
or trails

And into the wilderness
becoming
Pahn

through
                                         stony pastures

Ahgreyeuss sets out

.

.