I am standing on the precipice. It is a cliff from where I can examine the scope of all things and ponder my worth. Am I good enough? That is the aching question that resonates within my bones. It is the enigma that makes my heart feel like the most congested intersection. I’ve been tinkering with the cogs in my head. Never certain, but still searching for what is broken and trying to fix it. But I can’t; I am no mechanic, so I look down and stare at the nothingness below me. I hear the void calling my name. In a desperate attempt to find self-definition, I jump. I jump from the cliff and allow the darkness to consume me.

For some arbitrary reason, I decide to look up. Awaiting my gaze is a breathtaking infinity I never imagined I’d see. A beautiful blanket of stars flows over me as I descend. I remember when I was a child, I always dreamed of venturing into outer space. So with my calloused hand, I stretch out and reach for those celestial ***** of fire hoping to fulfil the fantasy of my youth, but I only drift further and further away. I scream. I yell for the illuminated sky to take me. Worthless!

As I throw my irrational tantrum, I realize that I never really wanted to explore the heavens. What I wanted all along was to fill them. I longed for purpose. Now, with that in mind, I stretch my arms not to reach the stars anymore but to fill the massive vacuum — to become a giant, a limitless, boundless giant shining in an infinite container… in the darkness.

I reconsider my existence. Falling. I am a light falling into… no, filling the darkness. I am charged with exuberance. It’s as if a bolt of lightning struck my chest and is waltzing through my body at this very moment. I feel safe now, drifting away from the precipice and into the unknown. I am a light. I am a giant. Limitless. Boundless. Infinite.

You are light. No, not the warm radiance that comes from the sun, but the soft glow of the moon at night. You are the light that flows from the moon; you are the moon. Much like the sun, you illuminate the canopy that blankets the earth, but you’re different. The blazing giant finds home in its own flare. Its corona provides a safe haven in the aphotic atmosphere of space. Your luster is too weak to do the same for you. Darkness is your home. You were created in a void, but you are light.

With you, I feel myself in a different way. I no longer end at my finger tips and dissipate into formlessness, which I fear the most. Instead, I take part in a beautiful continuity as my palms lock into that of yours. It’s as if two galaxies collide and merge like the way waves spill over to the shore. The celestial bodies intertwine and perform a graceful cosmic dance for you and me to gaze upon as we drift slowly into harmlessness.

While we make our way through the infinite sea of stars, we pass the world by. I catch a downpour of pain flood your eyes. Hush now, you. The world doesn’t see the way that I do. The world doesn’t see at all. It can’t. It’s blind. For that very reason, it claims that you are nothing, and you believe it. You give in to the notion that you are not enough. Stop. There is a universe inside your mind, and that makes you something. An endless imagination surrounds you. Stop. Your hands form things out of the darkness, and that makes you enough. The way you press down softly on the black and white keys makes a meteor shower seem like an ordinary happening. Stop. If you think that the world is right, that’s a lie. Believe me. You are a wonderfully painted work of art. Not even Van Gogh could have created such an impression.

Our path soon intersects with the courses of asteroids. The giant space rocks carry clusters of dust along with them. We go straight through the belt and dirt covers your entire face. I stare at you and smile. You smile back. I notice that despite the filth you are still perfect. Perfect regardless of imperfections. Perfect imperfections. You are light, but you were created in emptiness and now live in darkness. You are the moon that glows to illuminate the earth, but your incandescence is too dull to shelter you. You are the galaxy that embraced me, but you were driven away from yourself by the world. Even so, you are perfect. With all the dust that covers you, you are beautiful.