eternal by Kay Lee (15, South Korea)*

“you only live once,” they say, but really, truly, that is not quite correct, is it? / we live countless times, in all of the forgotten moments that ripple through us. / we live in the whisper of the tides as they kiss the sand of the shore / live in the low rumble of the earth beneath our feet / live in the breath of the wind against all corners of the weeping sky. / we live in sunlight pooling molten gold in corners and shadows waltzing against the walls of midnight. / we live in gentle clouds and the arbitrary song of the rain as it drips against us, / live in wandering souls and drifting worlds that collide in bursts of sound and light; / all the things that words can never truly explain and humankind shall never quite comprehend crashing together to create what life holds dear to our bones. /

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we live in grainy dawn and pulsing dusk and everything-all that beats with tiny heartbeats in between- / leaves rustling in wind / water sloshing in cups / flickering candlelight throwing ghosts upon shadows. / we live in each up-down of our lungs, expanding against the thick marrow of our ribcage, / in each cell that seeps through our veins, creating tissue-organs-skin-bone- / we live in each half-instant and leave behind something tangible in the black matter of time. / (it is never seen never heard never felt, but / it lives it breathes its heart pulses / in all the stories that lie forgotten in our footsteps. / wind carves it down water washes it away earth buries it in secret, / but it is never truly lost just as it is never truly found.)

/ in this way, we live in trillions of fleeting moments, from the constellations swirling above to the delicate butterfly that flutters its wings upon a flower.

/ in this way, we live eternal. / forever, in quiet moments and lost worlds.

/ we live eternal. and yet, at the same time, we never live at all.
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