Kubla Khan Quotes

“The Bridge Between Worlds
by Stewart Stafford

Across broiling effervescence, she appeared,
Right arm reaching, left hand coyly upon the cheek,
Dead-eyed, dream-shawled — a familiar homunculus,
A jolting presence, as she was and always had been.

She bid me build a spanning structure, a portal,
A companion mortal bridge to the immortal plains.
“Living sentinels are forbidden from the afterlife!”
Europa disagreed, pleading I continue her mandate.

I began building, not knowing where the far side lay,
She said I would see it when all seemed impossible,
The rabid mob called me blasphemer, madman, wastrel!
They threatened to cast me from my own edifice.

Ambition’s load buckled; funds and favour fled,
As foretold, I witnessed the spirit land beyond,
Figures coming and going in distant, penetrable mist,
I died by exhaustion the moment the capstone was laid.

© 2026, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford