"We wake with each dawn"

We wake with each dawn with a dull aching in our hearts. A longing for something we do not know how to name—a feeling, a yearning, a name, a love, a hope, a dream. We wake as the living dead, hollow and soulless, or something of the like. The darkness of the night is a darkness that persists even in the brightness of day; it is a shadow without form or substance. We are born of this darkness, and we inhabit its nebulous realm. In our chests we carry a weak, timid beat. We convey it from one place to the next, wherever we aimlessly go. It is our precious treasure, the only thing that is truly our own. It is our pace, our purpose, our way. And it is replete with fear. The dominion of the soul is a fragile thing. We do what we can to protect it, but more often than not we fail. This darling gift, it is fodder for the predatory world, for ever-hunting tragedy and misery. But we wake with the day, in all its golden, amber, first-life glory. We are a miracle. A statistical improbability in a universe of infinity. Look up at the vault of night and gaze upon the orbs of fire that perished millennia upon millennia ago. Gaze upon them and you gaze upon the manifestation of eternity itself. We are born of darkness but we need not live in it perpetually. We are afraid, so very afraid, but we need not be afraid forever. In our mortal bodies there is a machinery of infinite complexity, fashioned so gradually over millions of years. As insubstantial as the shadow that hinders our every breath in and out, so we are of a nebulous, murky mystery. But this mystery is a blessing. This unknown is our salvation. The salvation in what is and what can be. You and I, we are stars of a different sort. Although we are here for the briefest of moments, we are still here. We are. And I say this to you: We must free ourselves of the darkness; we must reign in light. I am scared—every morning I wake—terrified of the shadow. But I will not remain under its hold. I am of light for I am a being created through a multitude of energy-collisions that first began long before anything we could ever comprehend. I am scared—and I am brave. I cry—and I laugh in utter joy. I am a son of the darkness—and I shall reign forever in light.

M.M. — 13-Jul-2015