i shout

for the obscured figure

to leave me

alone

it releases me at once

for reasons i cannot explain

i look

and i see it

it is a shadow

yet, it is here

standing before me

just like i am

on its own two

golden feet

in a realm where the dead come to lie

maybe

we are not so different after all

he reminds me of something

someone

his shoulders are shaped

like the ones of the man who took me in

years ago

when i was still naïve

when the world had yet

to create me

who i am today

does it matter

at the end?

who i was

yesterday

as long

as i keep

walking forward?

a body of water

is whispering secrets

for my ears only

there is a way out

and a way in

and a way in

inside a way out

it tells me

the shadow holds out his hand

as if pleading

as if begging

…what a pitiful sight

atop grass that is much too perfect

i leave this heavenly plight

i do not pass the gates

where all the good ones reside

you have given me a choice

and i choose

always

to be born again