The Debt Incurred
Originally Written in 2008
Last night’s dream…
I saw a young girl
sitting alone on a grassy overhang.
She looked out
at the sprawling cityscape that lay before her.
Her dark eyes reflected the lights
that traced the path of man’s short attention span.
As she stared on,
a low hum arose from the very earth itself.
As if the sound was a signal,
the girl rose to her feet.
Her trance broken,
she looked up and gazed at the sky.
The clouds presently dispersed,
revealing a pale moon.
Like a sun for a new era,
its glow was a warm glimpse
at what the world could be like
if only she would do her part.
The girl closed her eyes
and conceded that in truth
she was just as guilty as the rest.
Yet she was the only one
who was aware of the debt incurred.
As the girl began her walk towards the precipice,
the song rose to an overpowering crescendo.
Her foot took a final step,
yet was not to be greeted by solid ground.
As she proceeded to fall,
the girl held no regrets.
She knew that this one final sacrifice
would be all that the earth required.
As she descended,
the warm fingers of the wind
lovingly caressed her cheeks.
Opening her eyes,
the girl saw that what was once a dazzling metropolis
was now a rippling ocean,
rising up briskly to greet her.
The hum had become nothing more than
a lost ship’s distress call,
drowned out by the sound of the waves.
The girl’s task was concluded
by a curt yet gentle impact
shattering at once the girl,
the sea
and the dreamscape.
All of which I had so briefly and wholly become a part of.