breadth, greater than depth

my sins are counted, mounted against me
against you, they're counted; they are waged
this is war

it's difficult to unaffix myself from the center of it all
difficult, say, impossible
maybe it's meant to be

but then i have always (truly, always?) been deeper into it
than anyone else has ever wanted or wanted me to be

and still, i have not and have never (will never) won (win).

esoteric. erratic. caustic. psychosomatic.
rose should be seen and not heard, if that
addition by subtraction, or, inclusion by exclusion

line up your soldiers. count your advantages.
who is here? who is ready?
who is on your side?

veiled threats - the kind that make your life worse than it ever is or was
as we are living and working here in the overpedestalized underworld

i cast a spell and a shadow
i don my plus-three greaves

acting with free rein and will, i voice my immaculate perception
i have not accounted for everything; i think i do not have to, for it is assumed

(we know what happens when you assume)

and what do i do when i do (you no) wrong?
what do i mean when i (mean you no) harm?

we mean you no harm by it.
we mean you no harm by it.

we are sorry, we are sorry, we are sorry.

content, we are, if this is the only unalterating signal
in its tenacious, tenuous attenuation
whosoever is the last one heard is whosoever must have the last word

so give it up. so put it to sleep.
so move it off to the back burner
so call the battle an unsatisfied truce

there is something yet looming over our heads
there is something great and terrible
it is called the past, and it is here in the present

and if i see into the future, then you are divining that profane past
you are remembering it, as i always (and am) used to
you are applying the breadth, greater than current soil and depth

you are the wise tactician; i am the volatile berserker
you are the wizard, tower impregnable
i am the wooden, shard-studded shield

you see one game, ever-mounting. i see the endless, innumerable, ever-final frontiers.