sol.ace_r

It was a very deep night—
a time when every sound in the world
had fallen asleep somewhere far, far away.
The sky, painted with dark blue ink,
spread out endlessly in quiet stillness,
and the scattered stars
looked like fragments of forgotten stories
drifting from some distant universe.

The cold night air brushed my cheek,
and though my lone body trembled slightly,
beneath this vast darkness
there must have been hearts waiting silently
for something—
small but unmistakably flickering
like faint lights somewhere on this Earth.

And then, in the distance—
without warning, without a sound,
tearing through the curtain of night—
a single dazzling streak of light
shot across the sky.
Silent, like a momentary flash,
a shooting star
cut through the darkness.

It was such a brief moment
that I feared I might lose it in the blink of an eye.
Its long, shimmering tail lingered for just a breath
before dissolving into the empty air,
vanishing without a trace,
as if it had never been there at all.

Beneath it stood a solitary figure.
A small, hunched shadow
as though carrying all the cold, heavy burdens
of the world on their shoulders.
In the chill that stole even their own warmth,
they brought their clasped hands to their chest
and slowly closed their eyes.

Their lips remained tightly sealed,
but inside the heart,
countless words, cries, and tears
were pouring out like a waterfall.
In the brief second before the shooting star disappeared,
they must have wished
to contain everything within that fleeting light.

It wasn’t a selfish wish,
nor a trivial one.
It was for someone other than themselves—
for the soundless sobs, the dried tears,
the lonely silhouettes abandoned by the roadside.
For the deep sighs of the world
and the screams of despair no one ever heard—
they felt all of it with their heart.

A pain so sharp
blossomed quietly yet powerfully.
Perhaps they, too,
had cried countless nights alone in the dark,
barely, just barely surviving
the tunnel of despair.
Or maybe they had simply seen
too many frozen hearts
in this cold, indifferent world.

Standing before a reality
no human strength could possibly change,
the yearning for a “miracle”
burned even more desperately.

And so the wish in their heart
grew fierce enough to pierce the sky:

That no one would ever again cry in sorrow.
That no one would be left to struggle alone in pain.
That this lonely, frigid night would be short,
and a warm morning would come.
That not a single soul standing at the edge of life
would think they no longer want to live.
That a world filled with warmth and love—
not coldness and indifference—would arrive.
That a miracle, incredible and impossible,
would come to end all despair and suffering.

Dear star,
and all you countless stars in the night sky—
please do not turn away
or ignore these small wishes of mine.
Let these earnest hopes reach somewhere,
so that someone’s night
might become a little less lonely—
even if just for a moment,
so their heart can rest.

And thank you, dear star.
For listening to my story
in this wide, solitary night sky
without legs, without words,
without judgment—
simply staying by my side in quiet presence.

Perhaps that single light of yours
fell today as a fragment of hope
to someone who barely endured their day.
Enough for them to live one more day,
enough for a bowed, crying heart
to feel just a little warmth again.

So please, don’t forget my wish.
And may a gentle, quiet star like you
shine tonight
in someone else’s sky as well.