the empire of unsheathed claws

we met you on a cold sharp morning
under an unforgiving sky
surrounded by killers (like everyone else)
and opened a bridge to a world we could not yet imagine

it was long ago, just before dawn
when the archivist was still in love with you
but so was everyone else we knew

an army of lovers and warriors,
believing that we could set right the world
while everything was on fire

it's hard to remember after millions of years
and all of the things we broke

that once we were young
and we thought we could break every chain.

but somehow we all forgot
there were chains on our sparks
that wouldn't unlock

we are used to being betrayed
most of all by ourselves