The sun is ablaze
Scorching the fine grains
He trudges through the sand
Counting his steps until his last

His skin is peeling
Flaking away to join the burning powder
The trail he leaves is drenched with blood and sweat
Remnants of a bygone civilisation remind him that he will not make it

The wind picks up
He finds himself in a cloud of unknowing
His eyes are blasted by the remains of his ancestors
His feet are crumbling but he does not realise it until he has fallen

His heart pounds
The ruins around him collapse
The one he hopes to find is long gone
He is blinded by the guilt that this land punishes him with

He is suffering
The dust is clogging the wounds created by his lust
He keeps crawling but exhaustion is getting the better of him
He wants to cry but he is too dehydrated to let the tears go to waste

He is fading
This torture brought upon him is making him forget
He does not know why he brought himself to this land lost in time
But none of that matters now, for he will join the ones who came before him

Waiting for the next to make the same fatal mistake

To find the ones who are lost

Only to join them in the sand

Another grain to punish the next

I stepped out of the doctor’s office
                      My vision is fuzzy
       I cannot see straight
He told me it was terminal
             I don’t have long
      I need to move
                      I can’t move
     I must move
        How do I move?
Nothing is moving but I must move
            I want to go home.
    I want to go home.
                                 Let me go home.
               I want to go home.
           I am running
                    I think I am running
       I want to live
              I am running
I can’t run fast enough
                 I need to run faster
      How was she alive?
                   She shouldn’t be alive.
   I am running
                         Not much further
           I cannot stop
                         Not much further
           I mustn’t stop
                         Who am I?
           I will not stop
                              I can see it
          Home.
                  Home.
    Home.
           Home.
                     I’m home.
             I’m home.
                    There’s someone outside.
          Who is he?
                     What is he doing?
           His arms are out stretched.
                     His arms are out stretched.
                               His arms are out stretched.
           Is he signalling me?
      Should I go?
I don’t think I should go.
                I must go.
          I...



But the man is no longer there.
I look around, but I cannot find him.
All that remains is four holes in the ground.
Only one hole is empty.
Friends fill the others.
I am home.

Grey skies loom
Street lights bloom
The roads are dead
A car’s on fire
But the flames don’t move
Is it all in my head?

Houses with broken windows
Boarded up shops
A town once in motion
But has since stopped
Shards of glass still cover the sky
Am I alone?

I turn the corner
A grey room on a hill
Surrounded by concrete walls
Protected from the dead
A small pillar of life
Will it always remain?

Here are my friends
But also some foes
They stand on this hill
Within these walls
Loitering around
Looking at the ground
Even in this dead world I am not at peace

I enter the grey room
This is my home
A cold, yet comfy place
Tarnished by their disgrace
Everything is mine
Until the end of time
I rest here hoping things will be fine

A bag hangs from the wall
Inside, a rifle
The beautiful walnut stock
A glimpse into the once colourful past
The world that once was full of treasures like this
Where this splash of colour was taken for granted
Those times are gone

I hear someone come in
She calls my name
I turn around
A spectre? She shouldn’t be here
She places her hands on my cheeks
I thought she was dead

it is important not to set the bar too high
to reach a peak so soon
it burdens the mind

the mind is like a field
continuous rich harvests burden the land
a poor harvest is required to allow the land to recover

if one continues to raise the bar each time
only disappointment will ensue
to find yourself in a position where you can’t satisfy even yourself
it truly is distressing
but stagnation is important for prolonging one’s creativity
so you can slowly improve
and eventually bring yourself closer to that bar you raised so high
until you are ready to raise it once more

In a land of walls
Towering so high
Cold to the touch
Covered in snow
A world so bright
Yet oh so cold

But it is not endless
For beyond these walls
New lands lie patiently
Waiting to be found
All it takes
Is for one to discover them

Between these lands
Stand bridges of ice
Glistening paths of light
Reaching over the abyss
To bring new territories to life

Who made these bridges?
One could not tell
Yet their purpose is certain
To carry us further
To take us to new wonders
To reach beyond our scope
And expand our knowledge of the world

I will guide him up a rope to the sky
I wish for him to see the world how I see it
I wish for him to feel the stars how I feel them
I wish for him to hear the wind how I hear it
I will guide him up a rope to the sky

For us to tower above the ego of man
Together
For us to look down on the petty war
Together
For us to cherish the thought of living
Together
For us to find the happiness we all seek
Together

But should he fall
Should he slip
Should I fail to grasp his hand
It’s a long way down
He will fall the greatest depths
Fall further than we have climbed
Fall beyond the conflict we strove to escape
Together, we will be no more
I will be in the sky
He will be down below
Hanging by a long, twisted thread
As he snaps out of it
A flower trampled into the mud

Mountain of flames
Higher and higher
Smoke climbs higher
Orchards of fire

Seconds, minutes, hours
Days, weeks, months
Years of history
Stories in the wood
Take to the sky
Higher and higher
As the smoke climbs higher
In the orchards of fire

But the history is not lost
No, it is only misplaced
Stolen by the atmosphere
Spread across the skies
Fragments of a past life
To shield us from the stars