The Phantasmal Library {poetry and short stories}

[Ganyu]

A Fairytale For Her
An elegant waltz reveals not the inner workings of limbs,
Nor a gloved outstretched hand show its sleeved vices.
The slipper may fit but glass will not last
Once the midnight bell ends its spell.

A night may fulfill one's dream,
But time easily uncloaks nightmares.
The undressing of love cannot be rushed
Lest its white swaddlings be ripped.

He does not come incomplete, but as a whole.
Like butter and bread, each with a unique flavor.
He will not appear as the sun with gilded rays.
He is the silver cloud, ending years of drought.

Not a bedtime tale, but a whisper to send you
dreaming. A breeze that sweeps away your fantasies.
A cratered moon's kiss, delicately imperfect.

Author's Note: I think I wrote this after watching Frozen. The whole "You can't marry someone you've just met" thing I think got my words moving xD

[Suicune's Fire]

I like the new poem! It's interesting. I think I know what angle you're taking...maybe. xD Two things about it seem slightly out of place, though:

The second line doesn't really make sense. I think if "show" was "shows" then it would. Or writing "Nor does a gloved...(etc)"

The other thing is where it has "dreaming." on a new line. It's odd that there's a period in the start of the line. Unless that was a particular stylisation decision, but even then I don't know if it works that well. Although if you like it, then that's fine. xD

Frozen was good. I watched Tangled last night for the first time and I really enjoyed it. x) I think I liked it more than Frozen, possibly. xD Anyway, good writing. 8)

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I really love Swan Song. It's really touching and I like how you've described all the different birds, I can see their personalities so clearly. :)

Old Chateau was really creepy. I thought maybe Rotom would make an appearance in there. xD

It's always a pleasure to read your work! Thanks for sharing! ^^

[Ganyu]

I like the new poem! It's interesting. I think I know what angle you're taking...maybe. xD Two things about it seem slightly out of place, though:

The second line doesn't really make sense. I think if "show" was "shows" then it would. Or writing "Nor does a gloved...(etc)"

The other thing is where it has "dreaming." on a new line. It's odd that there's a period in the start of the line. Unless that was a particular stylisation decision, but even then I don't know if it works that well. Although if you like it, then that's fine. xD

Frozen was good. I watched Tangled last night for the first time and I really enjoyed it. x) I think I liked it more than Frozen, possibly. xD Anyway, good writing. 8)

Hmm, what angle might that be? ;3

Oh dang. Fixed it~

You're right on the stylization. Poets often refer to it as "enjambments".

Eheh, I watched Catching Fire last night to get hyped for Mockingjay. Funny how movies can put some thoughts into your mind. ;D

I really love Swan Song. It's really touching and I like how you've described all the different birds, I can see their personalities so clearly. :)

Old Chateau was really creepy. I thought maybe Rotom would make an appearance in there. xD

It's always a pleasure to read your work! Thanks for sharing! ^^

When I was a young bright-eyed munchkin, I read a big book on birds (Far more detailed than my poem of course xD). They still quite fascinate me now as a domain in the animal kingdom. :3

Maybe it did~ :>

[Ganyu]

Stray Sheep
Bleating, kicking and screaming,
it came into the world.
Its eyes mirrored the golden sun;
Its fleece fair like creamy clouds.

From afar, a danger lurked in the tall knives of green,
gray and ominous like thunderclouds in the horizon,
it spied on the lamb, mouth watering like thirsting Tantalus.
A guise it conceived, made to deceive.
Once the lamb left the flock,
chasing after a fluttering will o' the wisp,
it approached its oblivious meal.

Alas, it was too late,
when the lamb realized it wasn't a black sheep.
Dark claws raked her thick coat,
causing tufts of white to fall apart
like the unpetaling of flowers.
She managed to run away,
but she would never be the same again.

Her fleece had darkened where the wolf touched;
eyes impured by the predator's bloodlust.
She'd left behind her innocence -
torn to shreds by the ravenous wolf.

Author's Note: The theme was "sheep". And I had to make a Catcher in the Rye reference.

[Ganyu]

Checkmate
Tiny ink-black pawns march across
the freshly printed board.
Two tiles forward, one tile backwards.
A long weary journey, riddled with perils.
One slip, and you are trapped en passant.

We are the unfavoured.
We scrabble for words,
to add to layers of syntax,
piecing together nuances and connotations
to build walls that would protect us

from The White.

The empty, abstract White.
The army of infinite soldiers
with their spatial arsenal - a sea
that threatens to subsume
our only pool of thought,
and erode our only line of attack.
White has the advantage;
gaining the first move,
and forcing us to play
the mad king's game.

Do not belittle the pawns.
Alone, they are insignificant
but they exalt among enemies,
thriving like blackbirds
during dark days.

One word to end it all.
One word, and the crown falls.

Checkmate.

Author's Note: Chess imagery was something that greatly took up my attention and imagination over the course of the year. Black vs White seemed like something I could play with; a palette for me to draw out my musings. Ink and paper, a writer's best company, are also black and white. Can you guess what this poem is about? Imagine sitting on a desk, timer before you, pen in hand and blank paper staring back at you, waiting for you to write, for your life depended on it.

[Ganyu]

Language of the Heart
I do not speak
the language of the heart.
It is fickle and vague,
switching and adding meanings
to words I already know,
rendering them useless.

It talks out of line -
does not link with the brain -
and stutters with palpitation.
Its starry-eyed speaker breathes through
rose lips between blushed cheeks.

The heart is hard to translate,
and it is hard to give away too.
In another pair of palms,
the crimson muscle is a glass globe.
And only time will tell
if two hearts put together,
bound forever,
may break and shatter into pieces.

Author's Note: People do weird things when they listen to the heart. As for me, I prioritize my mind over my heart.

[Ganyu]

Dead Awake

Drowning in the sedative fragrance of ink,
my head inclined in bleak prayer with a sigh,
hoping for knowledge to diffuse from book to skull,
hoping for a bulb to light up, for the pen to move.

Lessons panned back and forth in my mind
like someone flipping through old albums;
a frantic panoramic search.

Language flooded through my pores,
binary codes as foreign as Greek.
Alabaster walls of text glaring back,
cold harsh blocks of obsidian black.

There were pies and tables a machine could eat,
while I starved for daily commodities:
a gallon of sleep, a bowl of dreamy sweets.
A luxury ticket to a faraway place,
hands free;
no dark sleeping bags nor heavy overnighters.

I traverse through uncharted territory,
each step an inch into the minefield,
a breath closer to sinking deep.
Spiraling deep down into a valley,
flanked by hills growing by the ton
with the each passing of the sun.

And the walls came crumbling over me,
iron paperweights hailing down,
rolling thunder on the ground.

I woke up dead.

Author's Note: The prompt was "I woke up dead." I wrote this in the dead of the night, after making my way through a mountain of assignments. A lot of wordplay in here, I'll let you spot them.

[Ganyu]

Black Swan
Direct me,
with the script in your hand.
Two can play at this game,
when the curtains unfurl,
they won't have a clue.

I'll be the Thalia to your Melpomene,
in the storm's needle eye of feathers.
My arias will paint the skies white
while you wallow in your low ballads.
Careful not to ruffle your plume,
while you tiptoe around the lakeside.
Shadows cast across the ripples
on which false lights reflect a smile.

Our stage is split into
black and white,
like two faces of a coin,
tossed in mid-air,
flipping and turning,
waiting to see who would fall face flat,
and who would face the heavens.

The black swan's neck arcs in the final verse of its song,
as the audience weeps for the perfect tragic finish.

Author's Note: Unfortunately, what chess doesn't teach you is that mind games are never in black and white. Chess references, again? I can't help it. xD

[Ganyu]

If Life was Photoshop
I would crop out bloodied bursts tainting forehead and face,
and make my skin a white pure hue,
my eyes one green, one blue.

I would crop my waistline to be thinner,
crop my thighs to be slimmer,
stretch my legs longer.
Length. Width. Breadth.
These were the ingredients to create perfection;
The ultimate recipe and formula.

Erase all the weight from my arms, sharpen my nose and jawline,
and etch lines into my eyelids.
Paint myself like one of those French girls.

I would clone on boys the geometrical curves of strength,
And slice across their abdomens to create symmetry in square pixels.
I would take the cratered skins and light it with the sun and stars.

I would black out the eyes of those who shoot dirty looks
and blur out the mouths of foul curses.
Crop these people from the grand picture,
then frame it up so that posterity
may look back and see
how beauty was once skin-deep.

Author's Note: Inspired by a Twitter conversation I had with friends. The message should be glaringly obvious lol. What are pictures on media often accused of? Being Photoshopped. :3