This poem of mine has been around the block and then some! Poem and illustration "Book of Dimensions" originally December 2007 in Niteblade and also published March 2009 in Abandoned Towers, Issue 2. Poem (sans illustration) also published August 2011 in the anthology While the Morning Stars Sing, ResAliens Press, Aug '11, and August 2023 in the now out-of-print speculative poetry collection Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.
Book of Dimensions
by Richard H. Fay
Peruse the worm-eaten parchment pages
Of a forsaken cabalistic tome.
Decipher the faded arcane phrases
And recite an ancient mystical spell.
Sidestep through alternate realities
And witness the wonders of creation.
See bright orange skies streaked with golden clouds
In an odd reversed-spectrum universe.
Spy blue-green swocs feeding on crimson grass,
Then follow a jade-skinned native priestess
As she proceeds toward a black temple
To worship her world's deep violet sun.
Slip softly like a nebulous shadow
Into a shimmering gaseous domain.
Mingle with the pale amorphous phantoms
That glide through the murky grey atmosphere.
Experience existence without touch.
Feel the loneliness of life in that realm.
Glitter amidst a myriad of stars,
Each one a vast incorporeal mind.
Exchange thoughts and dreams with beings of light.
Learn the greatest secrets of the cosmos,
Just to lose all that heavenly knowledge
As your disembodied soul returns home.
Once the strangely wondrous spell is broken,
Carefully close the leather bound cover.
Place the book back upon its dusty shelf.
Leave the mouldering library behind,
But walk away with a bittersweet awe.
Retain the magic of discovery.
(Originally published in Niteblade, December 2007.)
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