by Nick Kaufman

                There’s the chair. And the stereo. The door. My entire room slowly coming into focus, each shape revealing itself from its one-way window. Slower and slower, I do not move and yet I can feel myself beginning to pass through, in this darkness, as though I were slowly being overtaken by a wall of black water.

I close my eyes once more and breathe, imagining myself laying here in my bed, waiting for this submersion to be complete. This has been my ritual for the past hour. Or has it been a half hour? Two hours? It appears I am further than I thought: Time is dead.

I open my eyes and look around the room. Every object is clearly defined now, I can see everything. The submersion is complete. I have entered this dark realm. And now that I have brushed past the black veil, I see that this place favors a quer blue-ish glow which bathes my surroundings in a blue haze.

Safety. Calm. Peace. Present

                Only these exist in this universe created be the void. My mind expands infinitely, exploring multiple caverns – each with its own railroad. And as one locomotive leave its station, my mind leaps atop the rood and travels with the car. My conscious thoughts race back and forth in a sea of invisible gears and metal which can only be produced from the legendary forges of the mind, providing a myriad of stepping stones – each shattering upon contact. The fragments scattering, some are lost, but others are retained and pursued.

The Past, the Present, the Future – all are exposed. These three guarded Beasts stand at Parade Rest as my arrows of though whistle through the air, seeking to pierce the armor of these three. Some chinks are found. To have even one arrow out of my legion’s volley strike true to its mark is a victory against these three Beasts.

Past. Present. Future.

I pursue you all in the way that God himself once pursued his children in Egypt in the time of Moses.

~                                                                                               ~                                                                                            ~

The chase lasted long. I am victorious this night, for each Beast suffered its own loss:

Present

I have cut off its arm: Delving deep within myself – I am finding that I need not trouble myself with the woes of this world.

Past

Its leg was severed: I have no cause to destroy myself with the knives of my childhood. I look upon those daggers; rust has trapped them within their scabbards. I must let them be, and allow them to turn to dust.

Future

This Beast was the challenge. Twice its cold claws raked across my flesh. But a worthy sacrifice. For in return, I claimed on of its eyes. And now as I gaze into this perfect and imperfect sphere, I see myself rise and raze.

~                                                                                               ~                                                                                            ~

And as these visions fade from my retina, I close my eyes for the final time, allowing my last conscious breath to flow forth from my lips.

To whomever these words may carry, gliding like birds with the spring breeze goading their journey beneath their wings, I say:

Goodnight.

May your battle with these Beasts come to its fruition.

Mine is only in its pinnacle.

But rejoice, for the hunt is not without its repast.