The 30th Floor
In honour of my 30th birthday (I am actually 31 today)
Today I made yet another trip around the sun. It's my 31st birthday. Yay! May be I should change the titile of this poem to the 31st floor but I am way too stubborn and lazy to change things once I have landed on a concept. I wrote this poem last year in honour of my 30th birthday. It still carries the same weight even a year later. I hope these words find a place with you.
The 30th Floor The shadow was a heavy burden— it roamed the empty spaces between thought and sound, silence and echoes. I walked the steps of a quiet hall, each floor dimmer than the last, following a path stranger than truth, beyond the reach of lies, toward a softer light. And here I am— on the thirtieth floor, with fear far away, remembering those I left behind on my silent march to ascension. Here, the lights flicker to a rhythm of their own. Once every two minutes, I hear the buzzing of my thoughts— nothing comes to mind but what is present in autumn’s strange heat. I feel the pounding in my chest—serene, steady— the current rising through me, the music each time I speak, heart and mind aligned. And as I sit here, sipping peppermint tea, I realize— winter is here again.