Entwined ‘Neath Stars and Empty Suns

Entwined ‘Neath Stars and Empty Suns
Merc Rustad

 
I am a star-prince born in the carcasses of old worldships,
Bred in nova-flare halls, trained to blood-taste by the lions that prowl the void,
But ever you elude my teeth and hands and warships.
I am haunted by your sun-bright eyes and comet-dust locks,
Your steel-gleamed smile, your whispered temptations.
 
Advisors and generals say of you, “They are naught but a
lawless wraith, progenitor of chaos. Destroy them, lord!”
 
(But counselors and admirals say of me, “He is untamed,
unbroken, unstoppable. He will be our downfall.”)
 
I who have sundered galaxies and snuffed cold a thousand suns,
I who am prince of princes and unconquered lord of the heavens—
I beg for your touch, your bonds, your breath.
Fey princeling, ghost-honed lord of the dark that twines unfettered between stars,
I will call you master if you will take me,
tame this machine-robed flesh,
unmake me and reforge me in your image—
for you alone can give what I desire,
and to you alone will I bow.

 
Follow my voice, shackled prince, across bridges built from planet bones.
Follow me beyond the veil of dataclouds and neural nets,
(my footfalls trace across glass-skinned cityworlds lit by heretic souls,
 below silken hydrogen seas, through aether-bricked walls)
follow me to this engineered pocket dimension I have built—
Follow.
 
Behold the bed I have made of caresses on the cusp of ecstasy.
Here I await you, like the gem-crusted panther droids of Orion Centauri V.
See this nanochain and velvet collar I have laid out,
            (for your wrists, for your throat, as you have asked).
Here I stand, unmasked and longing for you, patient.
            Behold.
           
            Come and let me unclothe you until I touch skin tattooed with conquest.
            Come and feel my body, for I will pleasure you as a man, as a woman
                        (as both, as neither—
                        for I am all—fluid, wondrous).
            Come and taste my lips and skin and hands, come and take my blessing.
                        Come.

 
I am here—
I have found you, across the span of time and space and thought.
 
Then come, my love,
and be welcome.
 
Together, we are at last complete.

Merc Rustad is a queer non-binary writer and filmmaker who lives in the Midwest United States. Their stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Flash Fiction Online, Daily Science Fiction, Scigentasy, and Fireside. “Entwined ‘Neath Stars and Empty Suns” is their first published poem. You can visit Merc on Twitter @Merc_Rustad or at their website: http://amercrustad.com.