__
      /\-\
     _||"|_
    ~^~^~^~^
    

Borders

By Ryan Chan

20 Jan 2026 07:09 AM

Dedicated to you,
I trace the edges of my skin.
Caressing the bounds,
tearing me whole,
finding only myself in the middle of forever.

To the boxes I seek to touch,
there is no outside.
I find that I am not confined.
Fluid as we are, as I border all.
In this solitude, I am watered by the unknown.

Oh blessed unknown-
In the beginning,
I pretended to not know you.
But now I know you to be
the eternal, timeless mother of creation.

These threadbare openings may seem a bit shabby,
but that is no issue for a community strengthened by tragedy.
For our umbilical cord has never been cut,
reaching out I only find myself.