Athehna's Sorrow

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............................Looking across
the isolines.....................................
of elevation...................
the representation...................
....of steepness
on a flat sheet.................................

.....................Pahn sees
a young............................

and amber.... woman.........
walking...................................
climbing..................
into an ascending
valley...........
of green .....

......She is
the wandering off of a loved one.......
a member........................
of the family....
.............a child............a wife...........a sister
peripheral..........................................
in her representational form
..............................................ephemeral
going........................................
into that topographical wilderness.............
where Pahn used to live.....................

…

Panicked..........................................
he leaves the house of his marriage

Searching..............................
................the hometown streets...for familial scents
finding only the smooth.............
and comfortable...ride
......................of a solitary vehicle

He begins..................................
........to accept his losses
and drive........

taking the ways..................
that lead.................
to industry .........

…

In the warren
...........................of work

he has passed the scale...........................
stepped over........................
the lip of the creek’s bank
to sit...............................
with the boulders
and vegetation
..........as the comrades pass

Here
on the closeness................
of damp soil...........
Athehna walks up behind him..............

stooping.....................
.....to touch his shoulder
and leaning........................
..............her hair into a curtain
..............................................beside him

He is sad now...........................
passing his invitation to her
hoping.........................
for a new goddess
trying to bring her into......
...the hollow of his lap
to swallow her
..................................that she may help digest the uneasiness

But as he relays.....................
the detachment
.....that left him open
she begins to retract...............
into her own violent......
................birth
............and damp cheeked
she delivers words................
of imminent..............
................departure

…

In a small.......................................
and wooden...corner.................
a pilot.................................................
is collecting his gear........................
ropes..........................
pitons .........................
chalks .........................

It is someone else’s wife
.........that is lost now
...........someone else’s daughter

Pahn tells the pilot........................................
that in the draw ..........................
where she has gone
there is no solid stone ......................
no cracks .................
......that will hold a spike

it heads....................
..............in a steepening wall
...................................................of crumbling sandstone
...................................................like the curl
.............................................................of a wave

there is no promise there
no commitment

But he is resigned to try...................................
because he is older and has no one .............

...................................He is a martyr now
...........................having given up
..........on finding love
for himself............

He spends his days............................................
flying into the wild..................
..trying hopelessly

to rescue

the lost girl................

.

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