If you know a bit about life,

it’s because you’ve taken a big swallow of it,

you’ve fallen into the rathole,

like I did,

crushed a leaf between your fingers,

waved it slowly, back and forth,

under your nose,

there was nothing else alive.

I’ll tell you my story,

if you tell me yours,

Once upon a time,

I fell into the rathole,

I looked as hard as anyone

could look,

into myself,

I cried my heart out,

until it nearly flew outside of me,

the rathole was a swirling place,

full of dying spirits and lost dreams,

and hollow men, begging for mercy,

there was no soft moss to break the fall,

my mind jumped out of my head,

rushed in front of me, trying to run away,

I thought I could never get out,

my soul chained to the stone wall

that even the rats could not climb,

I gave up hope,

until one morning,

I did escape my rathole, having learned that

time is the space

where everyone prays and works,

hard,

to find enough love,

to break the shackle.