victory falls: xvi.

And in similar fires,
brought forth Regin
a fine edge - blind-stricken
grief-bearer, shadowed
and cracked upon the anvil.
So hilt and blade,
now divorced, returned
to Hell interminable:

all evil must be forged
by infernal flames, and devils
defeated only by betrayal.

Let bloody hands be bathed
by sinister kiss; no sword
would do but that of history's making:
the Fates walk hand in hand
with breath-filled lungs.
So the murder-hand,
winged and feathered, imitation
of foe and fire,
sealed its wounds (lustful
scars of Phoenix blood)
and took flight,

weightless, thought and memory
cowered in fear
and Earth herself split open
to its will.