In Communion with Calliope is a fortnightly poetry column by Ivana Marija Devčić.
I have always been
the unyielding rock.
Yes, I may suffer
death by a thousand cuts,
dealt so gracefully by
the asphyxiating lashes
of brute wind,
and the harsh constancy of rain.
Yes, pieces may crumble,
and fall from me,
like snowflakes
sifting between fingers,
never in reach.
Not rarely have I
lost myself to agony.
Know that the water
which drowned me
has also rebirthed me.
Resurging and ineluctable,
as all trials are;
thus I became
the shape of my sorrow.
The scars will not let me forget:
when the flames burn me,
and cast me down
into the shadows I
tirelessly run from,
I will become molten,
and by my own light,
illuminated.
The underworld
has long been my kindred.