I'll be alright, but not tonight...

It is growing cold. Winter is putting footsteps in the meadow. What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this forgotten city. One can see milk-colored maidens dancing on the petals of dead trees. How coldly burns our sun! One would say its rays of light are shards of snow, one imagines the sun lives upon a snow crested peak on this day. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes. Helplessness has weakened me. Wandering has wearied my legs.

It's January and I'm kicking snow off my favorite winter boots. As I pass the hallway and step into the common room I see both of my dead plants, and I am reminded that I still have a lot to learn about life - how easily it can escape our grasp. I was supposed to handle everything with care, because I needed to learn how to be less careless, she said. Careless with things and people, around me and behind and I remember being still for just a second or two, thinking that it's so much easier to leave and start anew, than take care of what's already here. And then you step through the door. And you look me in the eyes and smile. It's worth it. It's really worth it.