(2020)

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Touch the light.

Its heat burns your fingers.

Flicker, flicker—it goes out.

Troubled thoughts abandoned in darkness.

Shadows of nightmares crawl up the walls.

Frightened, you escape its clutches.

Nothing holds you back and you run.

Hear the wind.

Its whispers you can't comprehend.

Painful bite—a below zero air.

Complicated thoughts disperse into snow.

Ink spills across your vision.

You walk without aim and without hope.

Smell the wood.

Its residents you can't find.

Rustle, rustle—it lurks there.

(What? What does?)

Unspoken concerns disappear into the trees.

Such towering strangers crowd you.

Standing among them, you feel so small.

Taste the river.

Its cold waters you desperately drink.

Slip, slip—you fall into the current.

Numbed thoughts drown

...and...

they will not resurface.

Dull roaring in your ears and ice in your chest.

Closing your eyes, you await your fate.

See the light.

Its warmth ignites a fire in your heart.

Blink, blink—you swim up to the surface.

All thoughts converge into one... Live!

Your heavy body finds snow-covered land.

On your back, shivering, you breathe...

breathe...

and smile.