A Letter...by Garrett Radant

My Dearest Empty Page,

What am I today? I am a soldier. Shrapnel hurling through the air, bullets echo across the skies, firefight. You are the piercing pain in my knees as I crawl into a bunker coated in glass, tears of regret coarse my soot covered cheeks. For I am a boy, hiding under my bed, they are fighting again. The door slams and I am alone. By myself, I walk down the aisles of this Cathedral...vacant pews and unlit candles. A place so serene and so self-served. More battles were held in this very room than anywhere else before. Looseleaf? Do you hear me? Do you believe? Because lately, no one could ever listen...between you an I...this is the only way I speak. Am I in love today? Am I so enthralled in someone that myself as a being is woven into them...they don't know it though...they never do. Are you walking away again today? Every time is the last time. Every dream is broken and every wish was made upon airplanes, for shooting stars don't soar this way. Are you making a promise today? It is easy to say you believe in something, when you rebuked it yesterday...for the morning is cleansing and the night remains a pool of unknown. In the shadows I dwell, not hiding from anything but myself. Realizations are the hardest things to accept and the simplest to ignore. I am a child chasing his dreams, I am an adult with no hope left. Strapping on these pads, stepping onto the field; sweat, blood and bone. I am the stringless guitar, I am the muted noise, I am the silent wave, I am broken. Glasses clatter against themselves, heads back, shots down. One goal in mind... drown coherency. Am I nothing in this ghastly fog? I can only hope. I run down an abandon street, lungs ache, legs burn...I give the moon a fleeting glance. Gorgeous. Rain turns to hail, I am soaken. Call it purification, call it a release. I yearn to scream...forever is only as long as life can push you on...which begs the question, how can one live...without first dying? Blood gushes, mist coated wind sprays and the sun sets as I grab your hand...I kiss you as the first stars appear in the sky. Perfection isn't always what you dream...but this time; it is. I muster everything I ever could have had. All the energy, all my soul... I whisper. Because with you dear looseleaf...I am almost heard.

Yours truly,

Silence