Livyatan

I walk out of my grotto

Feet slapping upon the cool smooth stone

Pebbles, sand and grit

A single thorny bush

Little survivor

My little witness

Waves in the breeze, as if to greet me

The smell of salt, wet on the air

I taste you

Memory

The ocean on this night

The terrifying black unknown

Mirror to my darkest fears

Primeval maw of the predator

The wolf in Eden…

Livyatan

I summon thee

So faint…

I could have imagined it

The sound of drums

I’m sure of it…

A cool breeze

Comforting and sweet

Whispers of something

Like an old lover who speaks sweet nothings

Tickles the ear

Suddenly, with a shudder

It becomes the whispers of a serpent

Conspiring demons…

Whispers of death

It becomes a great wind, a howling wind

Kicking up sand and dust that stings the eyes

Silent flashes in the distance

Thunder that rolls

Like the footfalls of a million soldiers…

One drop of rain, falls in the dust

Like a pebble thrown by a teasing friend

This is no friend of mine…

A second drop...then a third then a fourth

In moments the army arrives at my door

Curtains of rain begin to fall

These are not rain drops, but water stones.

A barrage of water that pummels and assaults

Suffocating, drowning.

Scream to the heavens

Garbled gargled Gargamel

Bring me, Livyatan!

A shriek, a scream, that answers in reply

Did it come from the sea?

Did it come from the sky?

I feel it through the earth

As if mother earth herself, recoils in horror

At what I have summoned

A monstrous bellow

Cuts through the roar of the rain and the sea

But this time, there is no mistake

It is the beast

Is it my imagination?

My G-d it must be

The borders of the sea

They are rising, expanding

As if the ocean itself is attempting to escape

To flee before the abomination that rises

In brief flashes

I see something

Something that curdles the blood

Involuntary shivers

As witness to that which should not be

Cloven from the immortal

Light bringer

Cursed by his sin

Little dancing shapes to the east and west

Frolicking tendrils

Dancing to the tune of some, unholy music

The cacophonous, chthonic…chaotic

Shrill laughter

Of death

The brush beside my cave

Water flowing in…now swirling about their roots

The sound of the surf begins to rise up in my ears

Growing to a deafening roar that overcomes the pounding rain

I can hear waves crashing upon the shore…

I am far from the shore

To my left and right, waves crest upon the hills

Again it bellows…it moans…out of sync somehow

Reverberating, hauntingly

Like a soul not quite connected to the flesh

I peer through the darkness

My eyes attempting to pierce through the sheets of rain

The wind

The impenetrable blackness

A flash illuminates…what is this?

A second horizon? A mountain?

I crane my neck

I had been looking straight ahead

When I should have been looking…up

My G-d

What have I done?