I walk this road of thorns and broken glass,
the ground stinking of hot acid, burning all it touches.
But I walk on.
Each step cuts deep into the fabric of my soul.
My eyes stare into a dark abyss,
an immeasurable chasm—
writhing with anger, fear, reproach.
The air is cold, colorless—
a silent poison that condemns all who breathe it
to eternal suffering.
My heart splinters into a thousand shards,
scattered in the pitch-black embrace of the night.
Lost. Battered. Alone.
Ashamed of the light that once pierced the sky.
The gloom swallows all, stretching beyond sight.
Distant screams echo—
pleading, weeping, longing
for another chance to feel the sun’s warmth.
I drift endlessly through time,
never to embrace that warmth again.
Then I see you.
A figure beside me, walking the same cursed path.
A being I have grown to hate—
though I do not know why.
Tears. Bitterness. Fear. Disgust.
Humiliation swells with every glance.
Why are you here?
Your presence tortures me.
A wretched existence—
despicable, vile—
and yet, we walk side by side.
The abyss tightens its grip.
My heart turns to ice when I see you near.
Rage coils within me, yet—
why does it feel like I am not alone?
Is this what love is?
A war between rage and longing,
twisting, clashing, devouring itself.
I watch from a distance,
afraid my touch will be needles on your skin,
biting, bleeding, suffocating every breath you take.
If hatred had a name,
would it be you?
Would it be me?
Or the abyss between us?
I feel nothing but the weight of your gaze,
piercing the dark, staining my heart.
I cannot feel your pain, your loss, your struggle—
yet your eyes mirror mine.
Lost in this endless void,
we have long forgotten why.
I see you stumble,
and with cruel delight, I celebrate.
But as I draw closer, I realize—
we are the same.
Two fragments of a single tree—
the branch and the leaves.
One cannot exist without the other.
Something shifts.
I reach out.
You lift your head and take my hand.
Foreheads pressed together, eyes closed.
And in that moment—
hate dissolves.
My enemy becomes my friend.
The crimson eyes that haunted me
now gaze back through the reflection of my own soul.
Gentle. Clear. Meek. Calm. Loving.
Warm—
a warmth I had longed for but never grasped.
The world shifts.
Lightning cracks.
Thunder follows.
Fire turns to smoke.
Glass crumbles to sand.
The moon rises, the sun behind it.
Everything changes—
except for you.
Where is the hatred?
Where is the darkness?
Where are the crimson eyes that hunted me for so long?
Gone—
banished by the touch of your hand.
For the first time, I feel my heart beat.
The wind dries my tears,
kisses my forehead,
and yet—
through all of it,
the only thing that remains…
is you.
--Anon, 05/02/2025
Theme : Self, Others -- Hatred, Reconciliation