You are too young
to be wandering
through a maze filled
with masked individuals.

Too young
to be stopped
from touching
anyone at all.

The masked ones
only look at you.
They do not speak.
Can they speak at all?

They never even move
their dark eyes
from your worried face.

You feel alone
in this maze,
and the only thought
that keeps repeating
is, “What if
one of these people
were to suddenly
turn around and attack me?
Would it be the end?”

But none
of the masked people
attack you.

They only look at you,
watching.

You feel like
they are
judging you.

Are they looking for something?
Are they looking for something bad?

In the distance,
you believe you see
your father, waving.

He calls out to you,
but you cannot hear
what he is saying.

You walk
towards the figure, and,
as you do,
one of the masked people
grabs you by the wrist.

His hand is cold.
The masked man whispers,
“Do not go gentle
into that good night.”

He draws
a blade
and stabs
you in
the gut.

You fall to the ground
in silence,
and the darkness
of eternity
covers you.

***

You arise again
in the afterlife,
by the Lake
of Heavenly Tears.

Alongside you
are mothers mourning
the premature loss
of innocent children.

It is their tears
that fill the lake.

The sky is red.
There is blood in the lake.

The mothers cry, “We have nothing left to lose.”
The lake responds, “But do you understand now?”

The sky is blue.
There are bones in the lake.

The sky is pink.
There is longing in the lake.

The mothers weep
for all their dead.

A voice calls from the clouds,
“You must choose, angels.
After all,
the only thing
the dead have lost
is their life.”