Mercury’s Melancholy

My eyes besiege the eyesight of a stranger
Like waves meet at the great shore
Clinging from the precipice
He asks, “O smallest of them all”
Do you ever desire anything more?
He doesn’t mind my ashen face
Our distance being worlds apart
I said, “The enigma has long worn off”
Like the count of these sunlight beams,
There are a million cravings this frozen heart demands,
His eyes recant,
Like a culprit caught in his crimes,
“Small things often go unnoticed,” I said
If the desires are untimed
They came looking for charms and water,
But this boiling land had nothing to offer,
So, they left me to the company of the stardust
And went ahead in their golden quest,
Never had any pals, no moons, no shiny rings.
Daylight on theses crates are my only acquaintances
He picks up his contrite face, wary of my clues
And dares to continue
loneliness is a familiar game,
it’s a grade we all face at times
Perhaps if you could help me understand O heavenly body,
The troubles that ache your mind,
His naivety is amusing yet strange,
Like the curse of tantalus, my misery is forever estranged,
His face commutes from concern to the land of misapprehending
Regret is the devil’s game my friend, I quipped
Better to leave it on the shelves,
He wishes to decipher in moments,
A secret that took centuries to encode,
“it’s not your fault, for tis the nature of the man”
You launch your machinery, play your numbers
Only for all the times your intuitions to fail you again,
You send alloys devices to capture my orbit
To lodge your flag, to swell your reign
Like a petulant child, you cry and deny and set your eyes on me
You fancy kens that are beyond your reach
You try to hold loose sand in the palm of your hands,
Wishing for it to not slip from your grips,
I was born from the fire so forever stayed in the ashes,
This barren land has offered nothing on your trips,
Remorse dwells on this face,
Like a sunset in the violet hours
“Amnesty for our foolishness,
We demand nothing more”,
He says
Fire cannot put out fire,
Plastic keys do not turn open metals doors,
“Your humdrum apology is tempting
But it’s not what I desire”,
This land burns hot then cold
Like lovers hearts, yearning to be eternally wired,
You fail to reach my surface
And fail to see past your defeats,
Your brain made technologies more advanced than any
Yet hilariously decline to accept this dichotomy
My nature is like passing time
There’s no one true stop
Violence of the dog days will follow freezing November frost,
His frown turned into a coy smile,
“I understand now,” he says
Looking for daisies in volcanoes would bear us no treasure,
It’s best to leave this case to the rest,
Challenges suit their suitors, O closet to the sun,
No victory would be claimed at your expense,
He picks up his picket fence
Bids a goodbye then continues to new terrains,
I smile too, not because a lesson has been learned,
They are creatures of familiar habits, another one is yet to come
Before my words could finish their stories
My eyes catch the interest of a stranger
He brings his golden cage with him
Concerns wrapped in the fabric of danger.

Written by Adil Khan for MTTN 
Featured Image by Thea Claire Anil for MTTN