Sepulchral Hero

Marble slabs wait. Winding-sheet ready. Catafalque stands. Pulse remains steady — A patient kind of hurry, a hurried kind of still. Covet the exit. Hasten the close. Petals of granite. Sepulchral rose. Impatience to cease! Impatience to halt! Crave the dark water! Beneath the basalt! Charon at the bank. Acheron flows. Guide charts the route where the hero goes. Wreath of cold laurel. Crown of the pit. Heroic arrival where the lamps vanish unlit. Impatience to cease! Impatience to halt! Crave the dark water! Beneath the basalt! Sarcophagus opens. Vault closes tight. Sepulcher hallows the absence of light. Marble mimics breathing. Flesh mimics the tomb — A living kind of stillness, a stone-cut kind of room. Impatience to cease! Impatience to halt! Crave the dark water! Beneath the basalt! Impatience to cease! Impatience to halt! Crave the dark water! Beneath the basalt! Basalt. Vault — Cease — halt.