Against the Cold

On the gritty shore In grainy sands I search past the lake For promised lands. Yet above the gray water With unyielding might Stands fog of similar hue but tinted blue. Its thickness obscures my sight. Through the fog And past the sea A shifting shadow She motions me. The light shadow I see vaguely through the wall Determines me To meet her call. Three steps I take Into the water which to me serves Cold. It bites into my nerves. I stand there shocked Quivering, in the pool with a troubled core Turning tail. I return to shore. Frantic the shadow jumps Leaping in the air Waving its arms Demonstrating despair. Return I to land And so I find a cave to stay Which unlike the light shadow Is dark in every way A hermit am I Reclused in the cave, cold That same chilling feeling Won’t let go its hold. As if it is mine I can’t escape the shadow’s stare And when I close my eyes It is always there. Night after night it waves in my mind And the nip of the cold tries to throw it away. Night after night I wistfully wish to leave it behind. But night after night the shadow will stay. One night I wake to no fire no flame But to light light—Sakura. Eclipsing the sharp rays Is a woman veiled as an Atala. “Your shadow is just as Extinct as I. Do you really believe She, is going to die? Foolish foolish is the child with fear Or rather, foolish in what they do. Though I suppose the same could be said For Icarus whos lack of fear was his undo. Let me, then teach you how to tame What’s bite is cold, that bite of the sea I’m sure you’ll see what it means To truly be me.” Out, stretches her wings and Consumes the light until it is her Who is the light and she Who sets distance between us and lets whisper And her silent mumbles Summon from the deep aquifers The purest water That ever were. Before me stands liquid clearly danger and I do no more than Watch a wall construct between us. “But,” my sadistic beacon began “Must stretch your hand Like my wings and the Wings before us. That is what it means to be an Atala.” I slowly approach the water. The wall deforms and circles around My rigid figure closing in. I feel my heartbeat in the ground. “It must be done” She says. Shock pierces my soul As the liquid slips over my body And the cold takes its toll. Frantic I fight until I Calm. Spreading my arms I rip The water cage open, and water Defeated lets go its grip. The pink woman watched And waited as I caught My breath. “She is waiting. I shall be there. Remember what I taught.” I find myself once more Trying to answer my shadow’s call. Muffled cries dig Through the bluish gray wall. Cold air cold water Lurk, slither in Between my legs. Chills crawl beneath my skin. And so I take a step forward. The broken water softly Splashes sending ripples across the top The surface, each step I take louder Stronger. I feel the cold slowly stop. The water attempts to overtake me Rising about my sides Gripping and grabbing With the strength of the tides. Yet above her I see The Atala woman’s light The thick fog now Pink and gray clash to a white. The light calls to me, And while the waters take their stand I too, I too stand and Out, stretches my hand. The sea splits following my Command, running from my path Fleeing from my destiny for it holds No power, no longer does it deliver its wrath. The shadow, she now notices me as I’ve noticed her, And she rising From the Earth, she knows This time I am coming I march through the revealed Path. The waters I tame Watch and soon I reach the shadow’s Land which to my own is everything but the same. Grainy sands are soft green Grass gray blue fog fades to nothing Turning, I see my Desaturated beginning Then I hear a name christened But whose? Not mine no its not the same Yet who else does she beckon? Repeatedly she called the name. I see her standing Just beneath the drooping branches I encroach A tree well in youth. She speaks with my approach: “You return to me For none escape their shadow. Know that I am you and you am I And I am now happy, ______” Into my arms I embrace her Until suddenly she diffuses into me. No longer is she present and when I Look into the water now reflective it is we looking back with glee. Now together we are one and We see color in the world. And now we live, warm and free Underneath the willow tree.