Things break
out here
on the cold edge of reality.
The hard and fast
become the thin and questionable.
Laws become suggestions,
rules become guidelines,
steel becomes brittle,
and people
become eggshell fragile.
Even the toughest of us.
Even the strongest.
We all find a moment
where the world that we’re in
and what we know to be reality
just don’t resemble each other
anymore.
And the neural pathways
that must be bridged
to make the connection between the two
are so vast,
as to be unconquerable.
That’s when the system
breaks down.
That’s when the first few
cracks appear.
As time goes on,
and the long months
stretch out on this icy frontier,
the cracks become fissures,
which turn to chasms,
and eventually,
in the most extreme cases,
vast, unbridgeable canyons.
As a person’s mind
begins to mimic
the reality
they have long abandoned.
To survive,
one must embrace the dark.
One must be willing
to venture into that
vast gulf of nothingness
that exists between
the world we know
and the world we find ourselves in.
Brave and foolhardy souls,
but even one will save many.
For some,
even just knowing
that someone is willing
to venture off
into the abyss of the unknown
is enough for them
to keep their head.
Fear and insanity
are catching,
but so is courage.
So is bravery.
It’s not easy to exist
out here,
on the far edges of nowhere.
The last outpost
before the gravity
that holds it all together
weakens to the point
that everything
starts to come apart.
Systems,
machines,
people.
All things begin to break down
out here
on the cold edge
of reality.
DJR – 2022
