How about in 2024 we stop it with reading books with the goal in mind to finish the book so you can add it to your list of read books and start reading books slowly and intentionally with the goal to rip it into pieces with your mind and be touched by it and formed by it and changed by it
A lady in the sky, she follows
dawn’s peaceful light
in wait of tomorrow's guilt,
burning beneath a mountain of clouds
each one darker than the last,
and yet she shines
brighter than any sun in any sky,
she wanders near those setting scales
backed by lions in a crow like roar
waiting to feed the passing day
a lady in the sky, she waits
“I desired always to stretch the night and fill it fuller and fuller with dreams.”
— Virginia Woolf, from ‘The Waves’
Even in shadow
does nature thrive
a silent spectre
full of bristling sighs
with a glimmer
the light then shows
the blooming tree preserved
alive in its shadow
The children yearn for the archives
I'd prefer to sit awhile
waiting for the storm to come
the heavens rush and clamour and sing
but the rain is kept hidden
beneath the canopy of this weeping willow tree
I was a gifted child. Until I wasn't. I was the golden girl. Until I couldn't burn anymore.
My parents expected me to build wings of gold and fly further than anyone could ever try. I don't blame them, having a child to raise is like sculpting a clay pot, you can shape it the way you like, paint it the colour you fancy. To raise a child is to play God. To raise a child is to be God.
But to be a child is to fall, to make mistakes, to fail. The thing about being too bright at an early age means you burn out by the time you're 16 and suddenly the world around you becomes more gray and terribly, terribly lonely. The fire is never warm enough, nothing is ever enough. And one day you find yourself begging to a godless sky, begging for a new spark.
I was a gifted child once. I was the golden girl. And one day, I burned out.
-Ritika Jyala, excerpt from The world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire
Historian, writer, and poet | proofreader and tarot card lover | Virgo and INTJ | dyspraxic and hypermobile | You'll find my poetry and other creative outlets stored here. Read my Substack newsletter Hidden Within These Walls. Copyright © 2016 Ruth Karan.
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