That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
So I made my choice, because
they say you always have one,
and wrapping hellfire in blind
impenetrable faith, locked it
deep under my Adam’s ridge.
Now my poison sits grumpy in
its frail cell: cuffed poltergeist,
cloudburst held in indefinite
arrest; and I am become Shiva,
saviour of two worlds.
*In Hindu mythology, halāhal, a deadly poison, surfaced when devas (gods) and asuras (demons) churned Kṣīr Sāgar (the ocean of milk) to obtain amrit (the nectar of immortality). With the world at the brink of annihilation, Shiva chose to hold the poison in his throat indefinitely, thus saving all of creation.
