—Wislawa Szymborska

Devour us, daughter.

Feed yourself in our remains and swell,
rise but do not explode.
Use that new strength to keep the balance
between your walk
and the path
of those orbiting around you.

Remember where we hid the keys
and open the doors we kept shut.
You might have to break some locks.

We are not craving for you to listen,
forget our words, burn the worlds,
speak fire and demolish
or murmur peace with your flutter.
Those are matters of no importance.
Your oldest allies will betray you
and your recent enemies will grow old.
You will feel lonely in this murk,
but from far away a swarm of lights is a galaxy.
So do as you like
but remember us
together
your three blind mothers
flying as one.

Take care of your tagmas
and sharpen your flames,
circumvent, if you can, the red giants’ call.
Prepare to be ravened
but don’t despair waiting,
because
soon you will learn
if you focus on it
the time of insects
is the same as the time of stars.