i was behind the wheel and you were sitting on the passenger seat. your hair was knotted in a tangled mess and your favorite korean music was blaring over the speakers for the umpteenth time. i watched you as you tilted your head back and closed your eyes, letting the murmurs of the engine and breeze of the night cloud your thoughts. you held my hand and started to hum the lyrics of your favorite song and in that moment we've never felt so much more complete, we were more than invincible. the tenebrific night swirled into a blur of headlights, and car honks, and whispered wishes and stolen kisses, nevertheless, we didn't care, because we were in love, and nothing else mattered.

you see, there is no trick nor magic
no hallucinations nor deceptions
we are no victims of a ploy, but of our own foolery
this is a nightmare transmogrifying into reality
ladies and gentlemen, you've just witnessed
the greatest illusion of our dystopia

the sky is nothing but a farce. a crayola drawing from some children's figment of imagination. an amalgam of cardboard and paper cut-outs.
and if it's the thin line that separates mortality from divinity
then i'm willing to kindle flames and set it on heavenly fire.

the sky is nothing but a farce. a crayola drawing from some children's figment of imagination. an amalgam of cardboard and paper cut-outs.
and if it's the thin line that separates mortality from divinity
then i'm willing to kindle flames and set it on heavenly fire.

gone were the steel in his bones and legions in his skull.
gone were the marrow-like rebars reinforcing his skeleton.
he doesn't have an engine for a heart,
and neither were there bolts and cranks and nuts inside it.
he is no cyberpunk hero.
he isn't a creature straight out from your sci-fi movies.
he is a rational character in this enormity called reality
and no.
his skin isn't made up of platinum platings.
try to cut it, and you'll see the crimson blood seeping out.
believe me, i've tried it once.
and never pretend that you don't know what he is.
because at heart,
you know that
he is just a human

no more stars and no more nights
no more oceans and no more skies
can we please cut out with all these poetic nonsense?
someone like you needs no metaphors
because you are already an art in human form

this is the story, of the sun and moon
who revolved around each other, day and noon
no idea what they meant to the other
never fitting perfectly together

one night, the moon fell in love with the sun
so bright, they outshine the stars as they spun
they pirouetted through cosmos and space
coalescing as one as they embraced

As the moon constellated with the sun
it was enough to make the whole world stunned
for one moment, the shadow was adorned
but enough, for the eclipse to reborn

"swim with us, don't be scared." they said
so i tried to culminate courage and jumped
"just try to calm down"
i plunged in the freezing, fathoms-deep lake
"everything's good"
and a blast of trepidation embraced my body
"it's not that bad"
they all frolicked like they can't feel the enormity
"it's all in your mind"
while i felt weak and i was trembling, but i smiled
"just don't think about it"
i was slowly sinking, and before i knew it, i was drowning
"try not to drown"
so i cried for help, but fear and panic engulfed me
"just try a little harder"
but i continued to sink and my lungs were straining for air
"only you can help yourself"
and i sank deeper, my lungs tight and burning
"it's a sink-or-swim world, you know?"
i drowned and that's when i realized
i can't swim

all my life, i thought perhaps i was weak and i was plagued by the senselessness of it. i can't handle the storms anymore. i've never been close to giving up and it will never be the same again‬

but not this time, i whispered as i clenched my fist
but not this time, i whispered as i held my chin up high
because this time, i won't face the storm anymore
and for just a split second,
i am the storm