Being
WRITTEN BY SICHEN LI
slouched across lampshades that shed light [lies],
you speak of the last time you lived:
your godfather’s funeral,
confronted by mortality.
‘this is why i must go back,
that cabin by the lake,
why did we leave it?’
i too want to tread
that water from 3 summers ago,
when we were light enough to be god
starved enough to feed on
our own, each other’s
flesh
dead in advance
and we don’t condemn a fleeting thing
did you live then?
‘i want to be –
and how misleading is Being?
did summer rouse in you
an infant
– like wonder –
& we dance
& sell our souls
to a stranger
lying on his back,
in the dark
[perverted world]
the voice of your godfather –
the marsh swallowed that place long ago.
‘so i’ll drink until it
rises from the ground
and i’ll leave you too’
3 summers ago and i still remember
–
–
–
but last wednesday, when my reflection
saw yours in the mirror,
i could not pick up the fragments without
slitting my eyes
and you speak of tempting fate,
what do you know of it any more
than a fetus with a sickle in his hands –
the blasphemy of knowing!
yet we know nothing,
desire nothing,
give birth not to a star,
born not of chaos, or
of Being nor nothingness –
you cannot renounce
the duality of annihilation
& nurture, to me you do both –
what is there except the eternal now
you can’t evade?
for eternity
my eyes will be
my nailbeds will be
this lexical dance will be
our consciousnesses will be
in Being.
you’ve packed your bags
in Being i am, nothingness
so unbearably light...
Sichen Li is a current high-school junior. In her free time, she enjoys reading literature, writing poetry, exploring philosophy, and taking photos on her analog camera. Her favorite book is the Master and Margarita, and she aspires to be an author someday.