Amor Fati

(Love of One’s Fate)

I am an abalone diver.

If I don’t go down

to the depths,

I won’t come back

with anything.

Down there

I once found 

a dying man’s

treasure chest,

the kind

a child would

make out of 

a cigar box,

a blazing Phoenix

painted on it

no sea water

could extinguish.

What was inside

would surely

rock the world.

A scribbled note 

quoting Nietzsche’s 

last words:

“Mother, I am dumb.”

Dreams are how

I listen to myself.

One day I found

a stone and

took it to bed.

I woke up

on the floor

in mourning,

the mineral

still in my hand.

What have I

in common

with a stone,

that I should

live my life

married to

the earth

each night,

only to

part ways

at break

of day?

Peter Valentyne

July 6th, 2020