Baptized in the Eye of the Dragon Nebula

Don’t tell Mom and Dad

I was baptized in the eye of the Dragon Nebula

and drank the sacred interstellar wine.

Afterward, I uttered heresies and the whole host of heaven

laughed as they cast me out.

A transfigured testament to the indifference of the angels,

I drifted into the deep dark of the cosmos.

My soul was shredded by a gravity well

and my ambition stripped off by a wandering planet

who also took my wallet.

Goldfish aren’t immortal, but six years is an eternity.

I tried existing outside of the bounds of time, but

nobody cared to hear my melancholy tale.

It’s only half finished anyway.

How long can you live without ambition or a soul?

Dark isn’t infinite.

One prick of light sends it scampering into

The unknowable cupboards of the Universe.

I found a flashlight in my front pocket.

The wandering planet must have missed it.

I miss the nebula, but I can’t give up my heresies.

The cost of the return ticket is too much,

going to ride to the end of the line this time.

Not well acquainted with success, but

Intimately familiar with failure.

I don’t miss my ambition, but a wallet

and a soul would be nice right now.