rotten things see through eyes, stolen

I am a rotten thing. Found breathing soil and bone, my natural predator is time. I am Ozymandias.

My eyes decayed first. Berries shrivelled dry, felled from an abyss, detached from brittle stalks.
I hid my eyes in a nest dug shallow in hazel and yarrow. Seeds strewn and grew into leverets dangling from vines. Their bellies bloomed, their flesh a calyx.

They had yet to open their eyes and I remained blind.

I fed my eyes to the river, untethered and hungry. She let them sink to bed and fish welcomed them warmly. I tugged at the eyes of a catfish until they gave way. They did not fit me. I saw little but the haze of a brook under a warbling sky; verdant, cool and ever-moving.

They fell out if I did not hold them in and I remained blind.

I carried my eyes in my mouth. Lithe — crooked — as I was, my feet were frightening. I would smack the ground, a petulant child, and foxes would run, kestrels flee. Trapped within throes of darkness, I kept my foes away. Treading grassland and hedgerow, my scent fled each quake my feet collided. Fearful of me, or perhaps just rotting like the rest.

I hung my eyes in willow trees breathing from below. He watched me in earnest but sought not to help me however long I waited. Years, but so little for one so tall.

My endurance failed me and my will tore apart and I remained blind.

I gave my eyes to the woodtide, O’ maiden draped in moss and down. She exchanged them for her own — plump chestnuts; brimming vitality. They were a perfect fit, and I saw the stars, creation, death and decay. It made me weep from stolen eyes and my tears stained red my fur. My lifeblood drained and my mind closed to impossible ideas larger than lucid.

The woodtide berated me as my flesh thawed and melted. My bones driftwood, pale and sour. My long ears were petals, fragile and crumbling under a merciless sun.

I was unworthy, and I remained blind.

Thank you for reading this first post on this wonderful new website! Do have a gander at my linktree if the mood takes you! <3

@Ksenia Palchikova on Instagram, Curiosity (2021)

This is a repost from Substack! One of my favourite pieces I've written. I'm still going to post on Substack, but ooooh I do like the site too. Going to post a few reposts first before any new work just to establish my presence here!

Do interact if you like gothicism, nature, poetry, dark academia, souls games and horror games of all facets!