Bliss is but a mirage

by Mani, Grade 11

What does it feel like to choke something so tight you suffocate it? Why must my ironclad clasp be the very reason you slipped away? I want to hold on to this elation,

Flatten it against my wall until it is permanently stained.

So that when there is nothing in sight but somber skies,

I can know that there once was joy.

That once the wind rushed past

Gracing us with a moment of cool amidst the dry heat,

So I can be able to recall the euphoria of pushing up against a breaking wave, Soaring over its peak.

Rising without a single thought,

Feeling the charged water flow beneath

Being propelled to shore,

Hurdled towards the dunes.

Watching a strobe of radiant fuchsia disappear beyond the horizon, Turning over soft sand in between your toes,

Feeling the blood rush to your head as you swing into the jungle

The supple silk that slinks off your forefingers.

Dust rising from the asphalt somehow clearing your vision when you know it should be blurred.

The tickle of the sun's rays

Humidity that diffuses into your lungs,

A foreign language that sticks to your tongue

Bright lights that carve a path along the gravel

Like the knives that rake through the crimson clay.

Fits of laughter so whole you might burst

And times so content you could permanently pin up your smile.

A mighty mountain to fix your gaze on

A family to jog towards

A familiar face to follow through the mas.

I have flown to the equator

Where the heat is deafening

And this bliss is but a mirage.

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Winter 2024

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.