Spring Cleaning (poem)

What would you leave behind

if you could clean your mind

like a house every spring?

Would you abandon your pain,

throw out your anger,

and banish your guilt?

Would you light a fire,

throw in unpleasant memories

and dark thoughts with them?

Would you destroy all of this,

along with your self-hatred,

so that you would be cleansed?

Or would you stand on the bridge,

watch the river run by,

wondering how far the drop is?

Would you stand there for hours

in contemplative silence,

wondering how cold the water is?

Would you look down from the edge

and decide with one jump

to throw it all away?

-Zero

Cherry Blossoms (poem)

In the distant Japan,

spring is characterized

by lovely cherry blossoms.

Their thin branches stretch out

like fingers made of jewels.

They touch the cobalt sky,

and brush the children running by.

From atop a grassy plateau,

covered in shining daffodils,

watch the mountains expand out,

painted pink with soft strokes

on top of cool blues and greens,

little specks of trees spring forgot,

take in the warm beauty of this spot.

-Zero

Attainment of Forgiveness (poem)

Within the bowels of the sea demon,

within great Leviathan's stomach,

I burn in guilty agony,

desiring freedom,

but accepting imprisonment.

Chains of green gold around my limbs,

a bloodied hemp noose around my neck.

The darkness engulfs all.

A small light appears,

a candle flame just before me,

dwarfed by the darkness,

but not put out.

It burns in rebellion.

I reach out for it,

the chains and noose tighten.

The darkness is finite.

I push farther,

igniting the flame within,

chains break apart,

the noose falls to strands.

My fingers touch the light.

The guilty searing disappears,

light consumes everything.

The light is awoken.

I burst forth from Leviathan's jaw,

its teeth now willow leaves,

its eyes the moon and sun,

the icy infinite turned warm:

a lively field surrounded by a forest,

snow-capped mountains in the distance,

a stream gently trickling by.

The light is in me.

-Zero

An Absence of Touch (poem)

Once a warm bed,

her figure huddled beneath the covers,

now made of snow and ice,

my hollow frame trapped within.

The walls open up

to an icy infinite ocean

that only Leviathan may traverse.

It charges towards me,

black flame eyes,

jagged sword teeth,

and vomit green scales.

I turn and scream,

only to find my flesh gone.

Skeletons scream only silence.

I reach out for her image,

I see it in the grey clouds,

her soothing fingers,

and her vibrant verdant eyes.

Swords pierce my vision of her,

back once more to searing darkness.

-Zero

A Touch of Forgiveness (poem)

Her fingers run through my shaggy hair

as I lean against her bony shoulder.

My thin arms cling to her figure,

as if she'll disappear at any moment.

She presses her lips on my forehead.

I tighten my wrap around her.

In these short moments,

I become blissfully forgetful.

Faced with the terrifying Leviathan,

I turn to her soft touch,

hoping she'll tame the beast

and lock it away in the deep below.

But when she is absent, gone,

my world is the infinite abyss

of the hellish stomach of Leviathan,

its flaming acids burn my skin.

-Zero