The Object

The shape was incomprehensible,
Swiftly shifting, flattening, drawing fine edges and sharp points;
The combinations seemed as infinite as are these words.
It shimmered, melted, reformed, burned and scattered as dust,
Yet it returned;
Each night;
Motionless and shining in the darkness.
Invisible in the day,
Light passing through it unchallenged in every way;
It was unforgettable.

But with every day, it was forgotten, as would be an old memory lost in haze.
And they would day-dream of it;
Until the next night when it would return.
It's iridescent glow injected memories of an ancient time,
It taught them, it spoke to them;
It showed them things which none could know and none could repeat.
Speaking in words formed with pulses of light,
The object collected images and emotions;
Burning hope into their very souls.

It comforted them,
It consoled them;
It never moved.
And they returned as it did, each time,
To be warmed and spirits replenished;
And those who gazed upon the stone knew nothing more.

For they were lost inside its shapes and shimmer,
As it twirled and danced for them;
Never moving at all.
And they went without sleep,
And they went without dreams;
As each dream was captured and drained.
And those who watched were happy,
Happy with nothing more;
Nothing more than what could be seen in its glow.

And those who watched did nothing,
Made nothing, wrote nothing, sought nothing, and did not have child;
They did not sleep and did not eat, they did not dream.
Each one who viewed, became as it, could not be seen,
And could never again enjoy another thing;
Turned by that shard, they would never be freed.

Fated to wither and die,
Just as the object, to return only at night;
And just as the object, without shape or form.
Only a glimmer of light, shapeless,
No longer whole;
Their lips moved but no sound would release.
No warnings could they pass,
As to what they had seen;
Its beauty and death, two sides of the same disease.
Their shape was incomprehensible,
Swiftly shifting, flattening, drawing fine edges and sharp points;
Fused together, the combinations seemed as infinite as are these words.