“Thirteenth” by Declan’s Corrective, Co-Governor of Seneschal, former Ace Pilot of the New Earth Hegemony Before these clinquant peaks And Quire-fashioned streets And shimmering cataract falls Before this was home Before Seneschal   There was me   Stiff shoulder muscle Knotted, bloody, scarred And chess table politics And cricket yard brawls And father’s frantic calls To lessons he’d swore I’d need To seed a future year With countless victories   Before we walked together gleaming Before Drifting, my reprise Before diarchy and comedy Before Cadent beaming: Me   Before Notion Before violence Before Vanguard, Apogee Before Evening Before promise Before vision from dark sea   I walked down courtyards, and looked to spheres And whispered treacherous dreams To peers who’d disappeared No schemers left to scheme Just me and castle Just me and hope Just me, naive, and mouth of soap   This is not apology This is dedication writ in flesh No more “fighting spirit” No more streets, bent No more “what I really meant” This is Tender wound   Me, threshed   On a dusted windowsill An ant lifts a sugar grain Plodding under false sunlight Through spotted windowpane And on the other side a child Runs through a sprinkler stream And screams And laughs And worries what’s to be   Stiff shoulder muscle Knotted, bloody, scarred A dedication the a world-to-be To victory To fall   This week on Twilight Mirage: This Year of Ours: The Mystic Mind over matter is magic I do magic Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt