let_me_try_again ovenbird My instinct was to be a flare, brilliantly burning magnesium, with a shell of phosphorus and sulfur. I wanted to strike my surface against all your darkness until the hurt went up in flames. But I see, now, that I was wrong. When your eyes have adjusted to cavernous depths, devoid of all but the weakest bioluminescent glow, a sudden flame is like the sun, an assault on your exposed retina, impossible to face. Of course, you would close your eyes against its glare. Let me try again. Let me feel my way through the dark to meet you. Let me bring a wool blanket to keep off the chill. Give me time for my eyes to adjust to the subterranean midnight. Let piloerection raise braille on your skin that I can read with my fingertips. Let silence be a language of trust between us. Let us be open to the possibility of life emerging, even in this place untouched by our nearest star, translucent creatures, delicate and strange. Morning can come and go in the world above, and we can stay here, untouched by its quotidian insistence. We can lose track of time. Let me stay with you, as long as you need. And when your body turns itself towards the call of photons that have travelled billions of lightyears to fill your eyes, when your hand reaches towards that dimmest offering, I will dig with my bare hands until we find a way to meet it. I promise you that. There is so much that I would promise you. 260522 what's it to you? who go blather from