an extended meditation on love with occasional math breaks

He will go to Fairyland And ride the mountain ways; Fine companions will he have To last his summer days.

They get another season, and it doesn't need a plot; Their fractal fatal midnights can be quietly forgot. I've set it in the coffeeshop, the bookstore, and the mall; It's cozy and what happens there's not horrible at all.

They have the sort of troubles that unscripted people do There's death and broken plumbing and some kind of novel flu. They need to eat more healthy and they need to get more rest: They're anxious that their students and their children get their best.

They read a hundred stories and they argue right and wrong, They write as many words as you can write your whole life long. They speak a thousand thousand times, until they're old and they, Eventually -- happily -- run out of things to say.

The stone is smooth, worn clean by wind and sand The spring runs down the path -- the sheltered land Keeps rabal, mirr, and zilla blooming sweet, The night air blossoms where the wild beasts meet.

The god who blesses beauty surely loves To see the mice come leaping, and the doves All settling in their praying, weeping flock; To see the water falling from the rock.

https://www.amazon.com/Goetist-Warren-Tusk/dp/196564631X

Edited to add: I am told that there is an option of signing up for a free advance copy in exchange for committing to provide a review at the link below.

Once, my dearest love, the demons made a mirror, a lovely thing of hammered silver and blown glass, for such is the artifice of Hell. ​And such was the magic of that mirror that it twisted and shrank any good aspect of whatever was reflected in it, and magnified the bad a thousandfold, until it was all that could be seen. And the demons called this truth, and rejoiced that men and their thoughts and nations and their deeds should be seen in this marvelous mirror, and one day they decided to carry the mirror unto Heaven, so that they might look upon the angels there. But as they rose higher and higher storms assailed them, and the mirror slipped from their fingers and fell, shattering into a thousand pieces; and the pieces lodged themselves in the eyes and hearts of men and women, and ever after have poisoned their vision.

*****

​Once, my dearest love, the demons made a mirror, a lovely thing of silver and glass, for such is the artifice of Hell. ​And such was the magic of that mirror that it twisted and shrank any good aspect of whatever was reflected in it, and magnified the bad a thousandfold, until it was all that could be seen. And one day the demons decided to carry the mirror unto Heaven, so that they might look upon the angels there. But when they reached Heaven the mirror showed only the angels in their goodness, for it little avails to attempt to collapse the infinite goodness of Heaven, nor to magnify a thousandfold such faults as are not there. And the demons raged, and the mirror slipped from their fingers and fell, shattering into a thousand pieces; and the pieces lodged themselves in the eyes and hearts of men and women, and ever after have poisoned their vision.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the demons made a mirror, a lovely thing of silver and glass. And such was the magic of that mirror that it shrank any good aspect of whatever was reflected in it, and magnified the bad a thousandfold. And the demons rejoiced, for it is in the way of demons to love their flaws, and love whatever separates them from Heaven; for if they did not, surely they would be in Heaven. And so they kept the mirror close and safe, and admired themselves in it, and its light was never seen in the world of men, nor ever less in Heaven.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the demons made a mirror, a thing of silver and glass, which shrank any good aspect of whatever was reflected in it, and magnified the bad a thousandfold. And the demons rejoiced, for it is the way of demons to  love their flaws, and love whatever separates them from Heaven. But among their number there was one who did not feel as demons did, and she went often to sit before the mirror, and whatever she saw there she went and cut away from herself, in her habits and her ways and her thoughts, until there was less and less of evil in her, and the mirror expanded it more and more. And they say it took a thousand years, but in time she walked up out of Hell, and through the world, and returned to Heaven.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the air was filled with fragments of a broken mirror. And one lodged in the eye of a young boy, and he cursed the small and familiar things of his life, which had been made hateful in his sight, and departed from them in the company of a heartless queen of snow and ice. But his childhood playmate followed him loyally, and with the help of friends and angels, came at length to hold him close and wash the splinter of ice from his sight with her own hot tears. And for this he loved her gratefully and well his whole life long.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the air was filled with fragments of a broken mirror. And one lodged in the eye of a young boy, and he cursed the small and familiar things of his life, which had been made hateful in his sight, and departed from them in the company of a heartless queen of snow and ice. And his childhood playmate followed him loyally, seeking always to return him to the land of men, but the way was cold, and the path froze her feet and her tears and her heart, and in the end she remained with him, lost within her own prison of frost.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the air was filled with fragments of a broken mirror. And one lodged in the eye of a young boy, and made the things of his childhood hateful in his sight; and he departed for the snowy north in the company of a heartless queen of ice. And when his childhood playmate found him there, he told her he was sorry, but there was no way to restore his sight, or make him a fit inhabitant of the lands of men. And so she plucked from the frosted air a thread of silver, and plunged it deep into her heart, that she might see the world as he did, and remained ever after in the palace of snow and ice. And it is said in the sunlit lands that she loved him gratefully and well her whole life long.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the air was filled with fragments of a broken mirror. And one lodged in the eye of a young boy, and made the things of his childhood hateful in his sight; and he departed for the snowy north in the company of a heartless queen of ice. And when his childhood playmate found him there, the snow queen told her that her friend had been frozen into a statue among statues, all birds and trees and fountains, and that she might only take him out again from that place if she loved him well enough to find him amidst that tangle of frozen dreams, and loved him truly enough to melt the ice that encased him. And so the girl thought for some time, and she plucked from the frosted air a thread of silver, and plunged it deep into her heart, that she might see all her beloved's flaws, and see him truly, and thereby find him in the ice. And surely she found him in the shape of a hawk of ice, all poised to fly up to Heaven, and held him to her breast until the cold was gone, and he was free.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the air was filled with fragments of a broken mirror. And one lodged in the eye of a young boy, and he cursed the small and familiar things of his life, which had become hateful in his sight, and could find no beauty in anything but the snowflakes on his windowsill. But he had some knack for the pen, and the words he wrote in his agony were almost lovely in his sight; and thus he labored after his art all his life, and wrote many tales fine and fair of a land of snow and ice, and perhaps in time crafted something worthy of the judgment of the silver sliver in his eye.

*****

Once, my dearest love, the air was filled with fragments of a broken mirror. And one lodged in the eye of a young boy, and he cursed the small and familiar things of his life, which had been made hateful in his sight, and could find no beauty in anything but the snowflakes he saw under a microscope, for when everything is rendered unlovely we may yet magnify what is good. And indeed nothing ever removed the shard of silver from his sight; but in time he became a great scientist, and discovered many interesting elaborations of the structure of crystals, and was not so very unhappy in the end.

*****

Once, my dearest love, there was a very talented man who loved a very talented woman. He saw her as a nightingale, and as it was truth, the world called her that ever after; and he saw her as an angel, and he dreamed of dying for her sake beneath a willow-tree. And some say that after she broke his heart he saw her as heartless queen of snow and ice, but this interpretation is not nearly so well-established as the others, and has been substantially contested by later biographers.

*****

Once, my dearest love, men saw with one sight and spoke with one tongue; but it occurred to them one day to build a tower unto Heaven, with high walls of silver brick and many windows, that they might ascend it and see the world with Heaven's sight. But as the tower grew higher freezing storms shook it, and eventually it shattered into a thousand pieces and fell to earth. And the fragments of the bricks lodged in the tongues of men, and separated their speech into a thousand languages; and the fragments of the windows lodged in the eyes of men, and parted their sight, causing them to each see in each other what was unlovely. And thus did men learn cruelty, and thus did men learn war; and thus did men cease to live solely in the hot nations, and spread eventually to the regions of ice and snow.

*****

Once, my dearest love, there was a castle that a heartless woman had built from snow and ice and the fragments of a broken mirror. And some reviled it, for it had been built from the remains of the arts of demons, whose cruel vision had ruined the hearts of men; and some said it was nevertheless gracious and grand, and a worthy redemption of an unworthy art. But what the woman there saw in her kingdom and herself is not recorded in this or any history.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell. It was the fault of men, they say, for daring to climb to Heaven; and not the fault of God, for creating Heaven.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; and in that tale I heard that it was very tall, and very finely built, and came very near to reaching Heaven. But also I was told when it fell all those who had worked on it found that they spoke in a thousand tongues, no two of them alike; and therefore I cannot be certain what story I would have heard, if I had heard it from another.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; and in that tale I heard that it was very tall, and very fine, and full of such marvels as should have been the wonders of the world, had they only survived. But the woman I heard it from had been once noble, and lived upon a bright balcony on the seventeen-hundredth floor, with red jasmine draping down, and I wondered what tale I would have heard from the builders above her, and the servants on the lower floors who had to climb so high, if they had possessed the tongues to speak.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; and in the tale I heard that it was very tall, and very well built, and that the techniques used in its construction have largely been lost in the days since its builders began to speak with a thousand tongues, and quarreled amongst themselves. But they say that in that part of the world the arches and the aqueducts are uncommonly fair and fine, and that the peoples there build the wonders of the world, so perhaps some knowledge was not lost, but perdured in the hearts of men.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; and in the tale I heard that all those who worked on it found that they spoke with a thousand tongues, and fell to quarreling amongst themselves, all the long night after the stones came tumbling down. But I have heard that in the morning one of the women who had dwelt near the foot of the tower came with grain she had gathered from the ruins of the kitchen, and with gestures and signs she organized the campfires near her into making breakfast for all those huddled in the wreck, and they ate a good meal there together, for all that they could make no conversation.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; but when I went to the place where it had been supposed to stand, I found it still standing there reaching upward to the heavens, with all within speaking a tongue that I had heard in no other place. And I wondered at the motivations of the criers and the writers of broadsheets, who had told me that men had failed when they built toward Heaven.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; but when I went to the place where it had been supposed to stand, I found it still standing there whole and empty, reaching upward very far into the clouds, to where I could not see. And I wondered at the motivations of the criers and the writers of broadsheets, who had told me that men had failed when they built toward Heaven.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; and in the tale I heard that all those who worked on it found that they spoke with a thousand tongues, and fell to quarreling amongst themselves, all the long night after the stones came tumbling down. And that is why I do not suppose it will matter if you explain yourself again, not now and not tonight, and why I am going to bed, and we will discuss this in the morning.

*****

I heard a story, dearly beloved, about a tower that once fell; and I heard that those who had lived in it spoke with a thousand tongues, and fell to quarreling among themselves. But a wise woman who had once lived in that place told me this: that it was not the fault of the fall that their speech had become divided, nor had they learned all their accents from disaster. Always, she said, those who dwelt on the seventeen hundredth floor had spoken other words, and thought other thoughts, than those who had lived on the seventeenth, for men must first re-form their minds if they would reach Heaven. And if there was any fault in what they had done, it was that they had climbed too swiftly, and given too little thought to maintaining the chain of translation that would allow them to read in time the letters from any of their fellows. And she would not tell me on what floor she herself had dwelt, for she said she had learned that it was not always good for men to know what thoughts were nearest Heaven.

*****

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls; but who, when he had found one pearl that was perfect, and of great price, knew that he could not afford to purchase it, not if he sold all he had, and ever after despaired.

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a young merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls; but who, when he found one pearl of great price, knew that he could not afford to buy it, not if he sold all he had, and despaired. And therefore he went away, and with what he had, built a house and took a wife, and planted olive-trees. And in his old age when he was wealthy, he learned that the pearl was still for sale, but he found that he no longer desired to give up everything he had to possess it.

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls; and who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went at once and sold all that he had, and bought it. But pearls are soft and fragile things, and by the time that age had dimmed his sight he found that its light had also dimmed, and it had grown dull, and unlovely.

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls; and who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went at once and sold all that he had, and bought it. And cherishing it greatly, he had it set in a ring of silver; but the work was flawed, and in time the edge of the metal scratched at the surface of the nacre, and dimmed its light.

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls; and who, when he learned of one of great price buried in a lowly field, at once he sold all that he had, and bought the field, and dug up the pearl for his own, and kept it ever after.

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls; and who, when he learned of one of great price buried in a field, did not sleep the night that followed, but went in the morning to the field's owner, and told him of what lay there.

*****

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man who went seeking goodly pearls, and found many of great price, which in time filled a casket in his private rooms. But he took no joy in their light, always supposing that there was another, more precious and more flawless, for which it would be worth exchanging all he had.

*****

If you said we were diving beneath the sea I'd look up the currents, and currently Be studying scuba and learning to see Through goggles, to rise so carefully.

They could have sung the hymns. They could have kept A peace between the eastern star and shield. And watched creation flourish -- scarcely wept For wounds that almost-glory almost-healed.

Just say that he's dead. Just say The world was lost by the seventh day The tomb lay dark and sealed and cold.

Don't keep promising the resurrection In fits and starts and hopes and shreds On Sunday and amongst the dead. Say that the pearl dissolved in wine. Say that the man was not divine.

...and the melody was lovely, but the lord of that place, having heard many such paeans, was unmoved, and sent her away unanswered, without so much as a glimpse of her beloved.

...and the melody was lovely, and the lord of that place was greatly moved. But this availed her as little as all artistry does when set against death. And so she went away unanswered, without even a glimpse of her beloved.

...and the melody was lovely, and the lord of that place was greatly moved. And so he agreed that she might take her beloved away with her into the sunlit lands, if only she walked the entire way up from the lands of shade with him behind her, always trusting in his presence, and never once looked back. And she swore mighty oaths that she would do as the lord of hell bade her, and set out with her harp in her hands and her hope upon her lips. But the way up was long, and doubt pierced her heart, and even as she reached the final step out of darkness her gaze turned without her bidding, and she heard him cry out as he fell away, back into the lands of shade...

...and so, crushed by her failings and her failure, she wandered the earth in despair, and was shortly torn apart by wild beasts.

...and so, crushed by her failings and her failure, for a short time she wandered the earth in despair. But eventually the gentle airs of the sunlit lands did their work upon her heart, as they so often do, and in time she loved another, and almost forgave herself her sins.