The Ammonite's Guide to Self-Preservation (second draft)
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:04 pm
If longevity's your heart's desire,
I can help you with that.
400 million years of references.
Note how the light is caught and not returned
by the striations in my ebon shell;
they tell of chambers, a delicate inner architecture.
But though you are outside-in, I can help you, in time.
Go, lay yourself in sediment, do it while you have the choice,
lie down, embrace the elements from which you came.
But first, eat silt, become stone, do all you can to lose
the marrow, the jelly inside that connects you with the air,
lose the flame to keep the candle -
leave your inner self to geology, your soul to god knows where.
Original
If longevity's your heart's desire,
I can help you with that.
400 million years of references.
Note how the light is caught and not returned
by the striations in my ebon shell;
they tell of chambers, a delicate inner architecture.
I grew, outside both body and water,
a line limiting form, keeping life sentient
until the cold became permanent.
But though you are outside-in, I can help you, in time.
Go, lay yourself in sediment, do it while you have the choice,
lie down, embrace the elements from which you came.
But first, eat silt, become stone, do all you can to lose
the marrow, the jelly inside that connects you with the air,
lose the flame to keep the candle -
leave your inner self to geology, your soul to god knows where.
I can help you with that.
400 million years of references.
Note how the light is caught and not returned
by the striations in my ebon shell;
they tell of chambers, a delicate inner architecture.
But though you are outside-in, I can help you, in time.
Go, lay yourself in sediment, do it while you have the choice,
lie down, embrace the elements from which you came.
But first, eat silt, become stone, do all you can to lose
the marrow, the jelly inside that connects you with the air,
lose the flame to keep the candle -
leave your inner self to geology, your soul to god knows where.
Original
If longevity's your heart's desire,
I can help you with that.
400 million years of references.
Note how the light is caught and not returned
by the striations in my ebon shell;
they tell of chambers, a delicate inner architecture.
I grew, outside both body and water,
a line limiting form, keeping life sentient
until the cold became permanent.
But though you are outside-in, I can help you, in time.
Go, lay yourself in sediment, do it while you have the choice,
lie down, embrace the elements from which you came.
But first, eat silt, become stone, do all you can to lose
the marrow, the jelly inside that connects you with the air,
lose the flame to keep the candle -
leave your inner self to geology, your soul to god knows where.