breathe

i have been kneeling in the darkness, serenaded by cellos and candles, emerging finally and blinking heavily in the sunlight and bitter wind. it is so much easier to keep your head down and watch your feet beat down in the slush, concentrate on the cold and wet as the puddles soak into your socks through the hole in your sneakers, concentrate on anything but the pulsating world around you. yes, it's easier that way. sometimes the world is too much. if you take it all in at once, it could easily suffocate you, like falling through the air from too high a height. the world is not inherently evil. in fact, its innate beauty is exactly what makes it so powerful, so dangerous. it's easy to be overcome by all the beauty. so concentrate on your sneakers. put your head down. retreat back into the darkness and the cellos and the candlelight. there's enough beauty there to suffocate you anyway.