I give up the stars,
Trudging along the darkened path as it opens to a clearing,
Well-trodden leaves – buried in the dirt,
Paper cuts sting as I turn another thin page.
Ahead, the pillar of fire burns in the night sky.
I give up the sun
And with it, the hope for nourishment.
I want to walk the path of the saints.
Unlearning with each hungry step
Undoing as it gets so dark, I can no longer see.
I give up the stars
And let my dreams die.
I allow hopelessness that I may find hope.
Sinai beacons as I seek fire to burn away
All the things that have kept me from You.
I give up the sun
So that I may truly see in the daylight.
Delirious mystic ramblings echo from everyone.
Whispering mystics help me along the path,
But I can’t hear them. I don’t want to –
Are they just rumors?
I give up the stars
The sun goes black and everything dies away.
I let go in absolute surrender.
There in the darkness is nothing but you and me.
Waiting to hear you say, “Let there be light.”
Kris Green lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and two savage children. He’s been published over 60 times in the last few years by the wonderful people at Nifty Lit, The Haberdasher: Peddlers of Literary Art, In Parentheses Magazine, Route 7 Review, BarBar Magazine, and many more. He won the 2023 Barbe Best Short Story and Reader’s Choice Award for his short story, Redemption. Currently, he has regular nonfiction articles being published by Solid Food Press on fatherhood entitled On Raising Savages.