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they are waiting

and they have been waiting since the first stone was shaped into a weapon

and they will wait long after our concrete turns back to dust

but i cannot stay here

to stay is to settle for this numbness

to stay is to become yet another shadow stretching out across this dead landscape

the answers aren’t within this soil

they aren’t in the blood we’ve spilled or the greed we’ve curated

instead, i assure you, the answers are in the cold, perfect architecture of the void

to reach them, i have to be lighter than air, lighter than bone

i must shed this cage

the body is nothing but a biological anchor

one that keeps me tethered to this catastrophe

to leave, i must stop the pulse

pierce the muscle that has beat without purpose

in that split second, the gravity of being human will finally release its hold

i will slip through the fracture as the blood hits the floor

a spirit unmoored