sol.ace_r

You drifted across the sky—
high above the world,
like the bluest of dreams.
The sunlight loved you,
and the wind held you in its gentle arms.

Your form changed every day.
At times, you were majestic,
like a vast mountain range.
At times, light and fleeting,
like scattered feathers.
And sometimes, you looked
as soft and sweet as a work of art
made by an old man selling cotton candy.

People on the ground would look up at you
and gasp in admiration.
“Wow, how peaceful.”
“I wish I could float around like that cloud,
with no worries at all.”
In their eyes, you were
the very image of freedom and serenity—
a painting brushed across the white canvas of the sky.
You looked so perfect
that no one could read the sorrow hidden within you.
Under the bright sunlight that resembled your smile,
you appeared like a dazzling piece of hope itself.

But I know.
I can hear the faint sounds within you—
the whispers from the places
where sunlight never reaches.
The shadows curled deep inside you.
The heavy burden hidden behind
your light, graceful movements.

You smiled so brightly,
crossing the sky with your most cheerful face.
But inside you,
countless needles of pain
were quietly lodged—
and the anxiety,
like a storm waiting to burst,
lay silently condensed within you.

The rain trapped inside you
was not mere rain.
It was the tears you could never swallow,
the sorrow that rose to your throat,
the record of wounds
you wished no one would ever see.
You carried all of it alone,
drifting as though nothing were wrong.
Because if even a trace of your darkness
were to leak out,
you knew how startled the world would be.
So you hid your true self
deeper, tighter,
beneath your flawless brightness.

At the highest place,
you were the loneliest island.
Endlessly spread across the sky,
yet unable to truly take root anywhere.
Perhaps your freedom
was only another form of prison—
for the moment you revealed your pain,
you feared even that freedom
would be taken away.
So you kept pretending—
forever bright, forever fine—
wandering the heavens with a quiet smile.

Oh, silent drifting cloud,
beyond your white edges
lie the unseen dark clouds within.
Behind your soft exterior
rests a cold and aching truth—
the nights you’ve endured alone.

Could you, even just a little,
show them to me now?
Let me be the small hand
that can hold even your shadows warmly,
and let you know—
you don’t have to bear it all alone anymore.