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before i was this near,

Your destruction could not dismantle
the foundations by which my soul stood.

before i was this near, i knew strength but
and i am here---standing---

in front of You---and---

i cannot believe what i know now
that i did not know before.

now, this near to the precipice,
i fortify a white-flag-surrender to this:

strength is too strong for
something as fragile as this precipice.

the Art of Collapse is a weakening
of what i previously thought was

strength---no---in fact

just a facade of it;

it is an illusion of keeping-in
posed as keeping-out what i really need destroyed.

i am at the precipice
and i am learning, from you, the Art of it:

a vulnerability that breaks way
before the actual collapsing event.

:::

i see what we are about to do 

with two similar, yet different, outcomes;

as for one, this kiss

will be the Point of No Return.

as for the other, this kiss

will be the Home of Whole Return.

simultaneously,

we will experience individual pasts and a single future

in one present moment.

:::

before You,

i was a short-stemmed, thornless rosebud.

then, i met the Reaper;

he colored me in dark blood bed

forced a dreadful decay with no sun and water.

he also gave me thorns,

so i could defend others

when i was dying prior to my death.

now, i wait to see what i become---

as i begin a new gestation

as a truer form of rose seed.