• I and I stood atop a ledge,
    An unfathomable crevice beneath.
    I leapt, and I called after me,
    "You fool!"

    Neither I nor I knew how long I fell,
    Seconds stretched to days, days to decades
    In the conflux of two times:
    One running its course,
    The other languishing behind.

    Unmeasured time is a cavernous room.
    So I realized after I fell.
    A cavernous room knee-deep in ash,
    Littered with charred corpses
    And skeletons seated against the walls.

    Not daring to move a muscle,
    Knowing any flinch would be scrutinized
    By some unseen malevolence,
    I sat for long hours,
    Hoping I would come.

    At last the evil took notice of me.
    The gurgling of vampires filled the smog-laden air.
    Sickened and panicked, I dug into the ash to cover myself,
    But my flesh dripped off my bones like wax
    As I burrowed into glowing hot coals.

    I turned and stepped away from the ledge,
    Muttering in fricatives,
    Kicking up the dust.
    "You fool, you fool!"