Living as Kohaku

sinking into the sea, your face still masked
and of course it was your own undoing
the chains curl around your body but you cannot feel
the moonlight pierces the surface high above,
our only indication of direction as you fall

you might as well be flying

as precious as a child’s dream, your eyes I cannot meet
hidden behind the plastic that guarded your heart
she cries but her tears dissolve into the saltwater unseen
both knowing this is nothing more, nothing less than eternity
nothing more, nothing less than being alive
because if the act of waking up is dying, our world is now right-side up

and you can be anywhere you want to be

soaring through the heavens, you call to me
as images flicker through your mind
this isn’t so hard, you think,
your mask still fastened tight
and when you draw your knife I don’t resist
and when you are reborn I don’t resist

because when you are alive I cannot live but here we are

spiraling to the ocean floor like helices
all of us flying in our eyes
fully masked and hauntingly we cry

after all, our paths are beautiful

after all, we are still beautiful.