<center><h1>Five days spent alive</h1>**.......
<sub>....... original poem & images by @d-pend .......
</sub>**</center>
___


![Screen Shot 2020-02-25 at 9.01.51 AM.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRyW6u4F9rg4CZBMK4JKneZTz12GS7hhnddaMjoMqNftR/Screen%20Shot%202020-02-25%20at%209.01.51%20AM.jpeg)

___

<h3>I.</h3>
Olive facets gleam on gravel:
ambivalent golem of memory
let loose the splint'ring gavel
am'thyst to shatter—symmetry
of nuance, skitt'ring happiness
in foxtail dew—in stumbling soul:
adventure's warm regress,
life's balmy shoal.

<h3>II.</h3>

When life's color mutes itself
I am waiting at evening's height
to soak in sultry monochrome—
—of equilibrium.

<h3>III.</h3>

Yantra of skeletal cloud,
height of day and breadth of bone,
width of placid sorrow:
berth of waiting stone.

<h3>IV.</h3>

Soar in pain's retraction,
Live in the heart of motion.

Still—this pale eternity
grows livid, indignation
of the servitude of joy,
trappèd mammal, cursèd ploy,
lovèd pain, wintry kiss,
frost-embracèd chill of time
slowly ravel up my spine:
grasp my tapestry.

Weave me up, sublime
in subtle wise, in subtle sophistry.
All for naught—and yet—
naught remains now to oppress me;
all's said in one breath.

<h3>V.</h3>

A vast tunnel where birth yawns
in the guise of red silver:
I see naught, yet light leads me on,
just a slivered lens
of warm world on world.
___


![Screen Shot 2020-02-25 at 7.45.06 AM.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSPAj6N6p3mL7NVCwnHR5hCk51TBZksJVsKhdByK8XA78/Screen%20Shot%202020-02-25%20at%207.45.06%20AM.jpeg)
____
<center>*"Five days spent alive"
written by Daniel J. Pendergraft*
.
<sub>First published to STEEM
on February 25, 2020</sub>
.
[Images created by
iterative compositing](https://steemit.com/hive-174578/@dpend.extra/behind-the-scenes-hoist-me-up-the-flame-images)</center>
___

![Screen Shot 2020-02-25 at 9.08.25 AM.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZX3X9eKRASKqt4jEncc1bgLb2P87MNZ61Hi8zdEZVRPx/Screen%20Shot%202020-02-25%20at%209.08.25%20AM.jpeg)

___