Muses and Fates

David L. Farr

THE WILD ENERGIES OF TWO SEPARATE ENTITIES

entwined together—a dance of fate.

Of fate? Perhaps. It is a worrisome thought, that we lack control over our destiny.

Do you believe in fate?

 

Is the weight of love diminished in an existence guided by fate?

A predetermined pairing, as unavoidable as the inevitability of death—

guiding one lost soul to another until they collide, softly at first,

a subtle glance, an accidental touch.

 

Fate does not always get love right, does it?

As a toddler moulds Play-Doh, squeezing… … …until it bursts between baby-fat fingers

cut into shapes guided by sharpened plastic edges: a star, a square, a triangle.

 

The surplus shaped once again, and again, and again. Until it is discarded

under furniture, where the last of its substance evaporated by uncaring air

leaving it hardened, so much so that it cracks. Useless to everything but landfill.

 

I don’t believe in fate.

Fate died after that first dance, when wild energies collided, giving birth to a brilliant light.

We only ride the echoes of fate. They whisper to us of the one: a soulmate.

 

Those echoes guide us.

To a first love,

then to the next,

and to the next.

Until the wild energies of two separate entities

entwine together, content this time to stop the dance.

They fade, as everything does, leaving echoes of their own.

 

 

 

To join the pulses of the past.

 

 

I LOVE YOU

You, singular.

Although, that’s not true

is it?

There are many entities that seize our love.

Objects. Creatures. Ideals. Untruth.

Each their own value in the hierarchies of our hearts.

That we love all equally

is the untruth that we clench—desperate in our scepticism.

 

Three children, all fractured pieces of your soul

each a part

of you.

Their weight not equal in the currency of love.

There is always a favourite,

it just changes from time to time.

 

What of monogamous love?

An automated ideal, built on societal confines.

To have one love to last a lifetime,

or at least (an accepted change to meaning) one love

at any given time.

Does a soul reflect this design?

Unlikely, a well of love cannot run dry.

An endless currency, lessened in value

only when spent in excess

on a single purchase.

David Farr is a third-year creative writing student, stay-at-home dad, and motorcycle enthusiast. He served seven years in the Royal Australian Navy and now regularly DM’s games of Dungeons and Dragons. His favourite class is a Paladin.

Anastasia Notaras is an emerging artist based in Brisbane. She is currently in her third year of BFA in Drama at QUT. Her work has been published in ScratchThat Magazine and can be found on her Instagram @anastasianotaras. Her creative work is multidisciplinary as she delves into painting, collage, script writing and performance.