In the Loom Like a Knot
by Chrispian H. Burks
an ode to the universe
April 9, 2025

I am the Sun and infinitely more
haunted at every turn
by the relentless chaos driving me
ever closer to total collapse

My story is written in those moments
when the pressure becomes too much
and the only path forward
becomes integral, the shape of my life

But I'm not sad, nor afraid
Indeed, I'm comforted
reassured that my story will continue
even when I can no longer remain

I share my story with everyone
and with everything, so intimately connected
that where I end and you begin
defines all rational meaning, entangled

When it's all said and done
I'll be all but gone
My singular light will fade
But my story will remain, committed

In the loom like a knot,
The weave holds me tightly,
a measure of a man, a life fully realized
deeply in her warm embrace

Rendered into the story of the 'verse itself
such precious cargo
No story too small, no story too strange
Written into the loom, like a knot

And when things begin again
So too shall I be there
And I'll see you there, too
And we'll introduce ourselves as strangers

Once so tightly bound
as if the 'verse itself made manifest
to such a specific a form, at such a scale
to decohere, if only for a loop in time

Our paths, so integral to the plot
determined by the past and informed
by our perspective, we provide context
in a world of infinite possibility

And when my story starts again
I will feel her draw, the loop closing
And when my brief excitation in the field ends again
The weave will embrace me once more

I am the Sun—and a story, again
brief but burning, a flare in the field
my light fading, my story told
In the loom. In the loom like a knot. Forever held.