In euphoria I glide through the hall of my being.
Dancing drapes of satin and silk caress my face as I proceed.
Resplendent in purple and maroon.
Perfume fills the air and colours dance on the eyes.
In this realm I am calm, for all that is unknown,
No matter how complex, must inevitably find its answer.
And with each answer I find comfort,
For each bout of arithmetic or conceptualisation forges a new and
Virgin monad - indivisible and
Indelible - hewn from pure and eternal stone.
I stack the stones with joy in my soul,
Pausing only to admire the towering monolith,
Central in the hall, and intoxicating in its scale.
Within the hall burning flames appear periodically, but,
Contained in brass fire pits, they do not draw my gaze.
Their orange glow is not to my taste.
They are merely formalities that burn due to vestigial primitivism or
Await their inevitable extinguishing when
Time allows our focus to be drawn to them.
In time all will be doused,
And with their sweet smoke we shall revel in
Our mastery of the treasures of this universe.
But my smile for some time has been forced in this place.
Smouldering embers, once trivialities, catch my eye.
For so long I resist their beckoning crackles. "
They are but tokens of my own immaturity, my own fallibility.
Do not be drawn to them.
" I babbled the words to myself time and time
Again, but this facade could not be sustained.
Through the billowing drapes I regarded a fire pit,
Larger than the others, heaped high with scorched wood.
A great pyre once burned here.
Gazing upon this heap of ash,
My mind became alight with hitherto unasked questions.
What was the justification for extinguishing this pyre?
Why must a fire which once burned with
Immense intensity be reduced to ash and dust?
My mind writhed in confusion and wrestled against all it once knew.
Even in my most distracted moments,
I always understood that fire
Possessed something primal and circadian.
As such, why would such a colossal flame be snuffed from
Existence, rather than be allowed to illuminate the spirits of men?
I reach out and touch the smoking dust.
My senses sharpen.
The air is tainted.
The walls of this vast hall,
Once finished in rich marble, now vomit forth decay.
What is this?
Flames dance upon my eyes, and movements churn behind this veil.