Castle of Emptiness

Once there was a king who built a castle of emptiness up in the stars.
He could watch the whole world through his telescope,
The lives of each and every mortal soul unfolding like a book.

Only, the emptiness he kept in his treasure chamber grew day by day,
Like a black viscous ooze that overflowed its coffers
And crept along, eating at the floors and walls.
The king turned the music up louder and pretended it wasn’t happening.

Then one day he heard a small, shy knock.
The king’s heart was struck and he hesitated in the hall,
Knowing that even to let one person in, would change things forever.
Why had someone climbed this path of stars?
Was there even anything left inside his castle worth finding?
At the drawbridge she waited, her smile under her silver hood fresh with light.