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Writer's pictureRei

Forward-Step (poem)

Chihiro (the protagonist of Spirited Away) walking barefoot along train tracks in shallow water, her shoes in hand.
Chihiro (the protagonist of Spirited Away) walking barefoot along train tracks in shallow water, her shoes in hand.

Long-lost lionheart,

how do I forward-step

when magma’s mere meters away,

lava inching closer to my soles by the day?


Inner roars and thuds lost to time’s trappings.

All I have the might for: backwards.

What’s been written is easier to dive in

than unknowns—

or so one would think.

Truth be told,

shrinking only comes of clinging.

Viewing the world

from the pinhole behind me

will guarantee no presence

now and in all future nows.


Forward trajectories may singe,

but my inner sun burns brighter,

so there’s nothing left to fear.


The only way I’ll find you, lionheart,

is by treading ahead

until death inevitably rears its head.

Until then, I’ll take my first forward-step,

then second, fifth, hundredth…




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