step one: stop believing. look, my hands are sticky,
reddened by the blood of the death god.
does this mean I have unlocked immortality?
I do not know what to believe anymore. when
the god of death came to take me away, to reap my soul
from the field of life, I tore his heart out with a knife
& consumed it. afterwards, I asked the silent heavens;
does this qualify as an initiation? for I have eaten a gods heart
& drank his lifeblood to quench my thirst. does this make me, too,
a god?
step two: learn the true names of all things. the wind, the sea,
the silence & shadows, death. I learned the names
of death & became undying. I learned the name of fire & became
the unburnt. I learned the name of war & became a conqueror—
I learned the name of the gods & took their place in heaven.
step three: create. from the sands by the sea, I built castles
& formed clouds into winged horses. at my command, barren skies
birthed birds of paradise & great monsters rose from beneath the earth.
my creations full the cosmos & I sit back in satisfaction. in time, I raise a pantheon
of worthy gods to rule beside me & somewhere in the world I created,
a mortal schemes & stops believing, starts learning the name of things
& thinks of all he will create.