In 2023,
I set my foot into the world for the first time.
A belated beginning—
the start of my life in society.
Having lived alone, weaving words in solitude,
the world appeared to me bathed in roses.
I was overwhelmed
by the giddy belief
that I could shape anything I dreamed.
But the world was not so gentle.
The first world I met was sweet,
welcoming, like an open hand.
Yet within its softness,
invisible snares lay hidden.
Smiling faces masked deceit;
many wore false skins
and wove lies to survive.
Perhaps it was for the sake of their dreams—
but the structure demanded sacrifice.
The higher they climbed,
the more they had to strip from those beneath them.
And over time,
their souls, once bright,
became tarnished,
their forgotten dreams scattered in the dust.
Disillusioned,
I cut the cord without hesitation.
The second world was colder.
A gathering of those
who had long been plundered and betrayed.
Suspicion glazed their eyes;
trust had turned to frost.
When they rose to power,
they became more brutal still,
mirroring the cruelties once done to them.
A sorrowful cycle,
a grief that devoured itself.
I turned my back and walked away.
And at last,
I found a world I wished could be my last.
A world of people
who, even when doing what they disliked,
gave their all with earnest hearts.
They met life with sincerity,
not brilliance.
Their bodies were tired,
but their spirits were rich.
They coveted nothing that was not their own,
earning only what their hands had made.
These were not dazzling talents,
but steady ones—
those who walked their path quietly,
day after day,
until one day,
abundance would greet them like the dawn.
It is not my road to walk,
and so once more,
I must prepare to leave.
Yet still,
I wish for their happiness.
For those who meet the world with honest hands,
with hearts that work and break and heal each day.May they guard their small truths to the end—
and may those truths
one day
become a vast and tender light.
JS is ON.
-Ooahan JS
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