Fleeting Whispers

By Tanya Shah, BA Geography honors

Design by Nandana

What if you fail?

Are you too afraid to rise again?

Does your knee buckle under the weight

Of the lingering danger, threatening to grasp you by the throat,

Choking you on the mere thought of failing again?

With every thud of your heart, like a ticking clock,

Time slips through clenched fists,

Eager to dissolve into the void.

Vulnerability grabs your wrist,

Feeling your faint pulse,

But you just stand there, watching,

Lowering your guard, letting them see it.

Your willingness to work, to live

Everything that once made you feel alive

Begins to fade.

Like the creeping cold of winter,

It moves slowly from your lower back to your neck,

And your skin becomes red, with the goosebumps rising, like the eyes of a lurking demon.

And all you do is let it consume you,

Slowly, deliberately.

With each pulse, you slip further away.

But then, in the silence, a flicker remains.

A spark, barely noticeable, hidden beneath the shadows of doubt.

And as the shadows press in, you finally see

Even broken things can shine.

The cold may brush against you, but it will never own you.

You lift yourself, not just to stand,

But to soar beyond the limits that once bound you.

What if, instead of letting it consume you, you chose to fight

Not because you must, but because deep within,

You know you were made to conquer even this

You were made not just to survive,

But to thrive, to transcend, to become something more.