I dreamed...

I dreamed...

I dreamed that I stood
alone
on a barren plain.
Empty, still, and dead.

Then I looked down
and saw a pit
black and bottomless
opening up before my feet.

The ground was just a shell
a thin crust
over the darkness below
and it melted away.

And in the middle
of the gaping pit
stood a column,
a column of stone.

On this pillar
a single figure stood,
head bowed, as if
weary from long struggle.

It seemed so small
dwarfed by the blackness,
that I felt like calling:
“Give up!”

“Why do you fight
when you will never win?
Why not fling yourself
away, welcome the end?”

Slowly the figure
raised its head.
A young woman, silent
as she stared at me.

There was sorrow,
such pain and regret
and compassion
in her gaze.

I looked back
into my own eyes.
I tried to cry out, but
I was falling
falling
into
darkness.