Hunger

We were the seventh group.

Our goals were open and limitless,

Our bodies made of red clay,

red blood, blue lightning.

Our souls without tether.

We had prepared for the voyage

through strict discipline

as instructed.

We had taken the ritual baths

in the mountain temple

for 5 days in a row.

We had been covered in dust

and blankets

and beaten with leather.

Once rising, finally free of dust

and forgetfulness,

they told us we would climb

like a winged bird

towards the sky,

our minds would open

into endless unimaginable landscapes

without the shrouded mist

of our homeland,

without the desolate frozen lakes

of our dying land.

Our newly formed blood

would adapt to the synthetic nutrients,

to the dark brown soil

of the astral ship we were now forming.

For those left behind

we would become part of

the golden rays of sunlight,

a piece of the distant sky.

But certain elements

in the network engineering

began to change our nature.

My companions

hungered for old blood

and I felt waves of a hunger too

even if I couldn’t name it.

We found within ourselves

a desire far greater

than our preconceived nutritional needs.

Somewhere over the horizon

we became creatures of darkness

shadow killers of souls,

and we turned the ship around

and placed within it

the seed of a new message.

We would find a way

To merge

Our desire for flesh

And our wish for the stars.