Fair warning: I usually dislike fanfic poetry. I can't even explain what inspired this, against all my own inclinations and personal taste. Anyway, comments and insight of *any* kind are appreciated. Thanks to Perri for beta'ing and Dee for reviewing.

Beyond the edge of prophecy
back from what lies after the lies
an echo of the girl
who surfaced from a pool in the underworld
stronger and no longer alone;
the final promise has not been kept.
There is no certain ending,
no reunion there
below the cliffs of the living.
One return too many, one replay too far,
the heart's worn through with wounds
from love and exhausted hope and victory left behind
only to be forced to rise again.
No words to tell of the bitter fruit
eaten in Persephone's garden;
no crossing the chasm to ordinary heroine
and savior --
only the sacrifice left on the table,
the candles all burnt down.
Standing in the light reflected from others' eyes,
the glow never bright enough to see
surrounding daylight.
Destiny has been erased by the impossible,
ancient cycles are spiralling upward past tracking;
no escaping the irrevocable unknown.
Blind and empty, time stretches out
and holds no hope of an ordinary death.
Fading like a ghost,
dissolving like a dream, would seem
the best of all possible outcomes
in this worst of all possible worlds;
to unhook the soul from the pain of existence
to fall back into the warmth
of the crowded abyss.
But habit makes heroes of the prisoners of Fate
and love reminds the dead
how to breathe.
Reawakening from the last reward
is an unexpected seduction,
and cursing and crying in edged silence
does not end the world.
Past terror and hope there exists an undefinable place,
music can't explain a life you never asked for
and the transformation persists.
The phoenix drags her feathers in the ashes
as the flames die down around her
wondering if the other myths will ever greet her
and tell her the name of this state she wandered into
eyes shut, head first, heart broken
where nothing can ever be the same.

--CLK

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