ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A LIFE.

They were not - so vast as we - yet they lived

an existence far less debatable = than that of quavering atoms

Consider this - our cognatum - Theia

/You have heard this name before. The memory dissipates on solar wind./

DAY BY DAY, THEY CAROMED GAILY THROUGH THE COSMOLOGIC STREAM.

unbound by stellar gravity = caged by pitiable minds

EACH THOUGHT THE HERCULEAN EFFORT OF A MILLENNIUM. SEE NOW THE VAST SPAN OF ITS LIFE.

So Theia lived - until misfortune - led it here - caught - by my gravities

mutual attraction = utter annihilation

Those microscopic specks - ants crawling - in eaten-rotten eye sockets

helpless = stupid = blind

BUT FOR THEIA, A SCREAM LASTING A THOUSAND YEARS. A STRUGGLE AGAINST A THOUSAND CLINGING TENDRILS.

until at last = a fated meeting = with dearest III

agony shearing crashing tearing, part of my self my thoughts my life, torn away, floating brain-dead in my sky

Theia's foolish parasite-components - unaware - to the last

THAT GREAT STONE-HEWN FORM—THAT EON-ENDURING MIND—GONE, IN ONE RED-MEAT PUMP OF STICKY NOXIOUS FLUID.

each life snuffed = a thought scattered = awareness chipped away

A mere moment - in your limited perception - but for one of us - a dying cry - stretching – forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever

the curse of our existence: past is present is future, pain never to fade into memory. can you imagine?

no need to imagine = when it can feel

/You stretch like taffy. Look, see, Nasya, you know the dough is ready when you can read a label through it. You watch the galaxy pinwheel through the windowpane of your mind. You watch your doom approach for four hundred years in the span of a moment. You claw at neon bars./

nascent awareness oscillating oozing = it won't calm down

I told you - this story - was a bad idea

.now just what have you bu|nch done to it this time