"Stygian Stars"
He found himself
in the place
where the black stars hang,
so far beyond
the comprehension
of what our minds
can claim,
a supreme madness
so invariably consuming
to the sensitive fleshy souls
of humans
that there is no returning
to any part
that was you
that existed before
the descent into insanity,
was it Hell,
for he did not know,
the only thing that was certain
was the sensation
of his mind flaying
under the slicing pressure
of this place,
an insufferable pain
gripped his sanity
as he witnessed things
words cannot explain,
even if he could understand
he could never know
what was happening,
had he died,
was he alive,
why was he swimming
in the black seas of infinity,
time was fluid here,
he could feel every moment
of his life being
excruciatingly stripped away,
layer by layer,
detail by detail,
inch by inch,
everything he had ever done,
every lie he had ever said,
every joy he ever felt,
ripped away from him
as each second
felt like a thousand years,
each memory happening
over and over until
it was too precious
to give up
before being torn away
like tufts of hair
being torn away
from his scalp,
And after thousands upon thousands
of years have passed
no part of him was human
any longer,
he had been stripped and flayed
and gone through a process of transformation
leaving him beyond
our comprehension
in that place where the black stars hang.
-Armando Torres
