Celestial City (i did not write this)

Once upon a time

there was a society of priests who built a Celestial City

with gates secured by word-combination locks.

The priests were masters of the Word and,

within the City,

ascending levels of power and treasure

became accessible to those who could learn

the ascending intricate levels of Word Magic. 

At the very top level, the priests became gods;

and because they had nothing left to seek,

they engaged in games with which to pass the long hours of eternity.

In particular, they liked to ride their strong,

sure-footed steeds around and around the perimeter of heaven:

now jumping word hurdles, 

ow playing polo with concepts of the moon and the stars,

now reaching up to touch that pinnacle,

that splinter of Refined Understanding called Superstanding,

which was the brass ring of their merry-go-round.

In time, some of the priests-turned-gods tired of this sport,

denounced it as meaningless.

They donned the garb of pilgrims,

seekers once more,

and passed beyond the gates of the Celestial City.

In this recursive passage they acquired

the knowledge of Undoing Words.

Beyond the walls of the City lay a Deep Blue Sea.

The priests built small boats and set sail,

determined to explore the uncharted courses

and open vistas of this new terrain.

They wandered for many years in this matter,

until at last they reached a place

that was half a circumference away from the Celestial City.

From this point the City appeared as a mere shimmering illusion;

and the priests knew that they had finally reached a place Beyond the Power of Words.

They let down their anchors,

and the plumb lines of their reality,

and experienced godhood once more.

Under the Celestial City,

dying mortals cried out their rage and suffering,

battered by a steady rain of sharp hooves whose thundering,

sound-drowning path described the wheel of their misfortune.

At the bottom of the Deep Blue Sea,

drowning mortals reached silently and desperately 

or drifting anchors dangling from short chains far,

far overhead, which they thought were lifelines meant for them.