the lampless maze

a lampless maze, its roof is soil,
green moss conceals its gaping maw -
its gates run red with nature's toil,
but seldom seen with might and awe.

a lampless maze, its door is stone,
its halls run like the veins of the finger,
like blood they run, and sets the tone;
in here we neither stay nor linger!

a lampless maze, its floors are coal,
here footsteps run, or footsteps melt.
here, prayers drown in that gaping hole,
the weirdest feeling ever felt;

a lampless maze, its walls, they scream
here, threads vanish, and truth is lies.
here, all is barren, it might seem;
a phosphene in our untrained eyes.

but hearken, open, remember death -
you who sleep with one eye closed,
you who drown and gasp for breath,
in oceans without floors nor coast.

here, all that is, is naught, and is,
secured with carnelian curdled locks;
reptiles crawl and serpents hiss,
around this great, great paradox.

unravel the riddle, teach me how!
i drown in quicksands, sludgy deep,
the lampless maze seem endless now,
"there are no exits", children weep.

the children say, "there is no way out",
but what i've seen is in situ carved,
entombing densely the flame of doubt
now flickering, weak and starved.

convolved in endless, rhymeless prose,
backwards written, carved in clay,
is the secret dwelling, comatose,
waiting for the light of day...