Diamond or coal?

Was she baited for a miracle? Did her 'hope' stand backstage, ready to prance into the lead and announce that everything would be alright? The performance was finally done, our long night had passed and everyone could go home, live the rest of their lives in peace and harmony. The white noise of dribbling water grieves our reunion, baptizing our pain. In that moment of consideration, this focus is drawn southeast -- to that accursed place of rebirth. To a portal and the ill destiny it brought to our kin. Certainly…reanimation was possible; my experience was testament, witness. But…at what price? Gravely, those first two inquiries are met with a simple admission, "I don't know.” Uncertain sorrow bleeds my expression, darkening it...was it crueler to feed hope…or to deny the possibility and starve it to death? My soul couldn’t…nay, wouldn’t answer for ghosts or magic, “none came from the clearing with me.” Africa...for example, had stayed behind out of choice. Her name triggers memories...of a gentler, kinder world. And from her ashen lips, a misplaced fragment of lost religion, ‘if ka decrees…only then would it be so.’  Gold infused cores refocus and resume their hold upon the blood-stained birthright of my second eldest child, “time here is strange,” an understatement, “but I’ve been here for,” this muzzle gestures south, angling to the overgrown timberline which had been home for… “awhile.” "I never expected to..." to what? The phrase quiets – suffocating in the back of my throat. Dread, fear...it boils in my stomach with sudden intensity. To be alive? To see her again? Or anyone else…alive? Rebirth had been both blessing and curse; it was simultaneously cruel and kind. Unlike a newborn, who was celebrated and could forget their violent arrival, I couldn’t shake the memory of being reanimated – nor could the consequences of my fate be avoided. "I'm…” despite the effort, this voice is cracking…breaking, “glad to see you.” These quivering legs unhitch, daring to step closer...remaining feathers unfurl, emerging to offer their gesture of unconditional love...

@Ranjiri