The Burden of Lifetimes

A Synaptic Sprawl Poem for The First Indulgence: Day 9

Image: Anirudh via Unsplash

This poem is for Day 9 of The First Indulgence Challenge. It is set within my horror mythos known as The Synaptic Sprawl.

Find other stories set in this vast multiverse in my Content Directory.

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I never knew you.
You stayed at arm’s length.
I’ve heard mention of your name.
I assumed your life was tame.

And yet, you gave me this, 
the place you called home. 
I found your secrets within. 
A shrine to all your sin. 

I never knew you. 
Not like this. 
You carry the burden of lifetimes, 
with orders to back up all your crimes. 

A Warden, that’s what you were. 
Brought back from the dead to serve. 
To defend the Sprawl, even if your soul is the price. 
A cost you would happily pay once, twice, thrice. 
 

I never knew you. 
This secret you held. 
It must have eaten away at you. 
Yet, to your cause you stayed true. 

If this is real, and I don’t know, 
you’re somewhere else now. 
A new body, but the same soul.  
Brought back once more to pay this toll. 

I never knew you. 
These things you faced. 
Exiled gods, desperate to find
a way to occupy your body and mind. 

I dig through your dusty secrets. 
My mind reels from these forbidden truths. 
My heart stops when I see. 
That your next recruit is me.

I never knew you. 
Yet you somehow chose me?
To become a Warden when I fall, 
to join warriors and heroes in that celestial hall. 

What makes me so special? 
What if I don’t want this burden? 
You never asked me to fight this war. 
I never asked you to open this door. 

I never knew you. 
So how could you know? 
That I would be fit for this role? 
That I would offer up my own soul? 

You say your watch is eternal. 
When does this fight end? 
Will the threat ever cease? 
Or is there no hope for peace? 

I never knew you. 
Perhaps I don’t know myself. 
My own battles are how I was made. 
With time, my hesitation will fade. 

There's a pocket watch here. 
I wonder how Wardens perceive time, 
When lifetimes pass by in flashes,
Only for you to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. 

I never knew you. 
But I can bear this weight too. 
Even if the prospect is horrifying, 
I’ll help save this universe, or die trying.

I never knew you. 
But I understand you now. 
This war calls for soldiers to fight,  
and I will do so with all of my might. 

---

Thanks for Reading! Here’s your Musical Pairing

Listen to this while you contemplate the burden of being a Warden