Escape

Ekphrastic, inspired by “Escape” by Alex Yamada

“This place is held up by chains”
“Well of course it is! Every platform needs support, or else everything will come tumbling down!”
“But chains!”
“There is nothing beneath us. Without the chains, we will fall.”
“What does it mean the chains are attached to us”
“What else could it mean besides we need the chains?”
“It seems more like to me the chains need us. Did you notice there’s a door?”
“A door? No. There is nothing here but us and the chains and the floor it holds up.”
“You’re not looking hard enough. See, right over there? You can almost see a crack of light shining through.”
“Oh. I do see it now. But what does it matter? We can’t go towards the door. The chains keep us held here and as we’ve already discussed we need the chains to hold up this floor!”
“But why? Why won’t the chains let us go to the door?”
“That’s how chains work, silly!”
“It’s almost as if the chains don’t want us to go. Why wouldn’t they want us to go?”
“I don’t know. You said the chains need us? Maybe that’s why. Because without us, the platform will fall.”
“What do you think is on the otherside of that door?”
“I couldn’t even begin to guess. This room with the chains is all we’ve known. Isn’t that good enough?”
“What if the other side of the door is better?”
“What if it is worse?”
“We won’t know unless we go through that door.”
“But when we do, the chains will slip and the platform will fall. We will never be able to return to this room which has become so familiar. And if the other side is worse, we may want to return.”
“But aren’t you tired of the chains? Day in, day out, holding up these chains so that the floor beneath our feet will remain?”
“We have no choice.”
“We do have a choice! We can abandon this room and go through the door and see what’s on the other side! We can’t pretend we can hold these chains forever. That our arms will never run out of strength and slip and drop the chains. And when we do, we’ll be too tired to run to the door. Let’s go now! While we still have strength left.”
“I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be. But let’s do it anyway.”

War of the Mind

Conflict lives within us all. It cannot be escaped. It cannot be reasoned with. It must be fought, root and stem. The enemy? Yourself. The one who knows you best. The one who knows just how to hurt you the most. The one who will never relent until they have taken you over. Battles will be lost. Triumphs will be had. Though we may heal from injury, things will never be the same. We may know peace in our lifetime, but war will always remain a constant. A warrior does not turn their blade upon themselves when the battle is lost. They fight to the bitter end. Until they can no longer will themselves forward. Not everyone is a warrior but we are summoned to fight all the same. Comrades fall. Love is lost. You are besieged on all sides. Things look bad, but as long as there is breath in your lungs, electric coursing through your brain, and life in your body, there is always a way to win. 

But what a beautiful thing the battlefield is sometimes. Anything can happen in this delicate life. You could survive. You could not. You could have it all, then lose it a moment later. There is no end to the possibilities. But regardless, you lived, and come what may, nothing can take that away.