Slowly,
I passed by the treeline.
The weeds growing over the path,
The bricks weathered & chipped.
The breeze was chap.

Silently,
I walked down the path.
The reeds by the pond shooting up,
The shoreline lapping & beckoning.
The bees buzzed, the birds chirped.

Compassion walked beside,
Curiosity wandered nearby.

The branches drooped low,
The forests creaked with life.
Further along, a river flowed.
Delicate in its trace upon the landscape,
Yet sharp as a knife.

Lilypads adorn with lotus
Floated idly atop the pond surface.
Frog leaped, dragonfly darted by;
The fish jumped up from the water
And rested at my feet on the shore.

"Let's help this fellow out!"
"How peculiar! Out or back in?"

Slowly, silently;
Delicate in its trace upon the landscape.
Nearby, beside;
The bees buzzed, the birds chirped.
Passed by the treeline;
The breeze was chap, yet sharp as a knife.
Down the path;
The branches drooped, the forests creaked.
Darted, leaped;
The shoreline lapping & beckoning.
Wandered, walked;
The bricks weathered & chipped.
Darted, leaped;
Rested at my feet, the shore.
Walked, wandered;
Floated idly atop the pond surface.

Further along, a river flowed.

Words!
They're something we nearly
All can say,
They're something we share!

Thoughts!
They're something we can all say,
At least nearly;
Every living thing has them!

I think?

I think.

Hey There!!
Calm and collected! You sure?
Look at you—
All humble and fake.
Is that all it takes
To be a human?

Too naïve and fragile,
Yet you struggle and survive.
You sure this is the right way to thrive?

Don’t be arrogant,
Think of a solution,
Battle your demons and
Don’t act impulsive…
...

But where’s the fun in that?
You think and think and think, and come up with that?
Is it your stomach grumbling, or
Is it your brain sighing?

Come on, don’t "think" now.
I’ll give you the answer—
The pleasure is all mine.

I was there,
Filled with compassion, adoring your design.
While you were a little boy,
You looked ferocious. You were determined!

Twenty years later,
You feel all worthless.
All you do is whine.

Where is the charisma?
Where is the shine?

It pains me to tell you this,
But we are running out of time.
Give me the control, and
Wait for my sign.

I promise,
Your presence won’t ever be ridiculed,
Your eminence will never be outshined.

Don’t ridicule me with such flattery.
Won’t you listen to me, your majesty?
Sure, you feel sad and shattered,
But wouldn’t you rather be this way?

Mistaking growth for tragedy,
They say:
Relinquish your heart from mockery.
Mayday—
Frightening is your disgraceful savagery!

Stop with the excuse,
Don’t loosen the noose.
You want a better life?
Just hop in and pursue!

Sure, what he says is tempting,
But I’d rather be here, presenting
To you,
The answer to your pain and resentment.

You shouldn’t be here lamenting.
Mark my words and heed what I say.
Don’t listen to that coward—
Here, let me make your way.

It’s bound to be suspenseful.
It’s bound to be cruel.
Don’t look at me like that—
You know it all too well.

I’m the feeling you long lost,
Yet you never gave up on trust.
I’m Hope,
The miraculous outburst.

Life is tough,
Not a whack-a-mole game.
I hope you understand:
Listening to him is just in vain.

Now, don’t accuse me of temptation—
It’s my very nature!
Can’t call it quits now, can I?
I guess I should show some determination.

I was born at the dawn of creation.
To put it simply:
Would you rather choose me and feel this soothing sensation,
Or
Choose him and relive all those dreadful accusations?

The decision is for you to make.
I’m just as important as he is.
I put in all my stake.

And you,
You are pretty mean to me, but I respect you for that.
If it wasn’t for you, I’d have gone, “Boom” Splat!

It’s cause with you comes the hardship,
And with you comes the wrath.

People get frustrated,
Desperate to look for a path.

The look on their face and the pressure on the back—
How can I miss such delicacy?
Oh! How amusing is that!

You want me to move away?
Na-uh, I ain’t doin’ that!

Making a mockery of your own kind?
Stalemating me?
Just so you can outshine?

That’s some pretty ***** trick you got up your sleeve.
Yet you go around accusing me of being a thief.

Unreasonable, isn’t it?
When he secures something,
When he gets a win—
You float like a butterfly.
You become the limelight.
You become “the thing.”

You take away the credit,
You took away everything!

But when he gets down—
Tarnished, hopeless, and doing everything on a whim—
When he succumbs to despair,
Who’s there with him?

I used to respect you for being tough.
Look at you now, coming at your brother like that.

I’m also something.
Just like you,
I too was given a task.

At least I’m honest.
I know I can cause pain.
There’s a term called “False Hope”—
Ever heard anyone feeling “False Pain”?

Life’s not a fairy tale.
I know, alright.
I can give him happiness,
I can make him smile.

I know I’m tempting him, but
It’ll be worth a while.
All you did was strangle him.
All he felt was not right.

I just wanna control him,
Make him feel alright.
Don’t give him no false hope.
Don’t make him feel traumatized.

It’s okay to be heartless.
It’s okay for him to hit rock bottom once in a while.

If Hope can flourish him and it can make him shine,
Do take the role of father figure—
It’s your duty to guide.

I understand your goal,
And I won’t hold you back.
I was born a pushover,
And I’m fine being that.

Don’t misunderstand me—
I ain’t plain as that.

I’m sinister.
I’m always there to keep you on track.
I’m always there to ensure he never gets up on his back.

I’m the hurdle he must clear.
I’m the obstacle he must pass.

And he needs you, brother,
To overcome me—
To overcome my wrath.

“With that said, whom do you choose?” both said and looked onto me.
As bewildered as I was,
I was more confused.

To choose among these two isn’t child’s play.
One will live, but one will be slain.
Like two counterforces, both can’t coexist—much to my dismay.

I thought and was about to choose,
When I suddenly opened my eyes, stunned.

Was it a dream, or have I finally succumbed
To insanity?

I pondered about the question both had asked,
And I realized I was outclassed—
Not by the amount of reasons,
Not by the sheer pressure.

I simply couldn’t choose.
Should I opt for the king of treason to live a comfortable life, but with no rhyme or reason,
Or
Should I choose the voice that you hear when you loosen the noose on a rope?

I was uncertain before, and I’m uncertain now.
Maybe someday I’ll prosper.
Maybe someday I’ll be happier.

Until then, it’s me—
And my Uncertainties.

                                                                                      -Asher Graves

the bone-ache of wind and cold
runs up her legs as she walks through the plain
so she could rest in the earth and finally
sleep, knowing she found
something better than it was
before.

she searched the jungles once
but all she found were choking vines
still, the leaves whispered
𝘱𝘴𝘴𝘵, 𝘱𝘴𝘴𝘵, 𝘱𝘴𝘴𝘵
but the tip of their tongues faded
into static and she thought she found
a parchment’s glass bottle washed
up onto the shore but then the sea
leapt up and stole it again.

she sat on the beach for hours
like a long-lost lover, yearning and
waiting
but one day she vanished—
not to home, there was never
home, but to a place that replaced
her new loss with the ones she’d
met before, old friends with the other half
of the story.

now, she walks with the others’
manifest destinies but hers is a
glory that they’ll never know,
no gold or God or greatness but
an answer…
brushstrokes to give definition
though the edges always bleed,
so she reincarnates to do it all
again.

hello,
hello,
her fingers are shrouded in my hair
spilling memories from lips cold of morning coffee
her eyes are made of it
i take them as i cup her cheek
and brush away her past with a gentle touch

hello,
hello,
day by day we meet
and i watch her soul crown her in frost
she’s beautiful
light flows out of her as she turns
i reach for her hand and leave

hello,
hello,
time and time again
ice numbs where the needles drove past her skin
weaving her veins in gold
and still she stands
an anchor in the blizzard

hello,
hello,
she’s still
waiting for me
but i no longer
wish to come
please leave her be

hello,
hello,
i can’t help it
they’ve bound us so
and so i take her hand
a final kiss
and
close
her
eyes.

hello,
hello,
hello.

making characters and stories in my head
and realizing
my favorite ones
are just my issues and flaws
personified

He is like a god to me
    alpha of my pack, my rescuer and my rock:
his breath like beef’s bouquet
    his words like brittle bones breaking in my mouth.

Our touch like summer
    as I rest my head on his strong thigh:
gazing adoration
    staring petition.

I stalk him
    for the crumb that falls from his plate:
and wait patiently
    for scraps of skin from his repast.

When indecision strikes
      to eat or not to eat:
He nobly leads me to the door
      and tethered takes me out.

He leads me through
    musky canine
          saffron sage
              scented pastures:
and corrects me when
    squirrels like sins
          tempt me to stray.

We romp through rugs
    of red and russet
          fallen fronds:
foraging for
    foully fragrant food
          delight of doggy dentes.

I am his humble hound:
he my mighty man.

<Frothy waves coated the slippery rock
Seagulls gulled annoying caws
A ship had wrecked upon the beach>  

There he sat
Dazed and confused
Trying to grasp his surroundings
“Thou art alive,” he said to himself.
“Not for long,” replied the sea.
Fear told him to run
Reason told him to listen
Experience forced him to say
“It is true that thou hast lived many a year,
Ye foul beast,
Many a day hast thou slaved upon thine waves.
Just look upon my hands and ye shall see
The scars that time and ye have left upon me.”
He waved his hands in violent gesture
Caulouses cracking in dehydration
Pain a parasitic friend
The sea casually mocking him
“Oh, but I know of thee.
I have looked after thee from afar for many a sun,
And moons have bled and stars have fallen
That cannot give number to the times I held thee afloat
When otherwise thou wouldst have sunk into my depths.”
He laughed and his body ached
A grin twisted his wrinkled facade
Gazing around at the irony of the god
He said,
“Yet here thou sittest, surrounded by thee on all sides
Accursed by thy blasted brethren baking thee alive
And thine water be poison that I cannot drink
Parched with a thirst thou canst not sate
If thou be so benevolent,
Why must thee be so prevalent?”
At this a rogue wave rushed high
A not-so-veiled threat flattening him in proscinesis
“Little man, knowest thou not of my scope?
Thou hast sailed me across the constellations,
Beyond Terra and Firma
Riding Pegasus to Orion
With Polaris as thy guide
Across the entirety of my body have I graced thee
With nigh a swell to impede thee.”
He paused in recollection
Remembering hard days and nights
Pulling his oaken oars with little resistance
To his taskmasters chiming rhythmic timing
“Row… row… row”
A tear rolled down his face to join the sea
“Then why hast thou stranded me here,
Alone to die,
Ostracized from thine protective *****?
What sin hast relegated me to divine flotsam,
Cast away and destined to be forgotten?”
With a splash that could be translated as a laugh
The sea sighed as the tide began to recede
“We all have our limits, little man.
Mine is the earth that bars my current
And thine the body which rides it.
It seems we have both reached our ends
Mine the land
And thine thy life.
It is time that we say goodbye and part ways
Mine to my depths
And thine to thy death.”
With a wash he looked down
Only now realising the ghostly cast of his weathered skin
Slowly he stood and with a few tentative steps
Descended into the God who had taken his life
In exchange for his freedom  

<Frothy waves coated the slippery rock
Seagulls gulled annoying caws
A ship had wrecked upon the beach>

There were no survivors