This meager-bosomed flame has died upon the midnight mountainside and all below the valley lay: shadowful, deep, a darksome bay. Above me stars flare and shimmer, but they are far-flung, faint, dimmer than the fire which erstwhile I fed with flighty fancies from my head, and the world has grown darker now with that looming doubt-beclad brow of the mountain I once bethought myself the conqueror, thus brought by such talents and suchlike skills as made such mountains not but hills, in the meantime leading astray upon a path my pride did stay as does the Fool in Tarot deck who walks beside both bluff and beck. My heart-fire flickered to fade soon with the new-risen harvest moon and Autumn’s acorn-bells shall call while Summer’s splendors wilt and fall and cold winds sweep them unto piles that feed no fires except denials, cold, rustling, leaf-shod winds oft wail and trace futility’s trail that I dared to climb for so long; what a mournful, tenebrous song. The moon is gone, the stars are dim— was my journey passion or whim? The mount is dark, the wind is cold, doubt is a sickness taking hold. No light at all, no light to guide along this ruthless mountainside. The fire is snuffed, the fire is gone— should I relent or carry on? The night sky is but black ashes within which no heart-fire flashes and not yet halfway to the peak nor it half to the height I seek.
How foolish to travel so far, thinking my fire could be a star.
Stephen Marshall. Writer, illustrator, layabout. Find him on Amazon, maybe. He has paperback and kindle books listed there. He also writes Supernatural Romance under the name S.C. Foster (because his fiancee pushed him to do so). He seems to have a knack for the Romance genre, much to his chagrin. Having pursued Children's literature he is particularly proud of his Children's novel series "Lost And Found", which begins with "Chloe Among The Clover", continues recently with "Stormy Within The Strawberry Patch" and may, in some future potentiality, culminate with "Candice Through The Picket Fence". These are novels for children (including his insistent nephew), but they are also written for adults who are children at heart. His short story collection, "The Eldritch Diaries", centers primarily upon Cosmic Horror and Body Horror, combining Lovecraft's mythos with the motifs of Sigmund Freud. His largest poetry collection, "Broken Crown Kings", contains over two hundred poems and two short novellas concerning the fleeting nature of the world and Man's place within it. Recently he has published a smaller book of poetry concerning Kentucky, Moonshine, and Ghosts called "Moonshine And Spirit Chasers". A much larger collection, entitled '"Nevermore" 99 Rhymes For $0.99' is also available. For those seeking supernatural and folklore, his collection "Weeping Cherry" is available also.
https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Marshall/e/B07536QKD9?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_fkmrnull_1&qid=1554215427&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
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