Decay

 

We all know the ache.

The hollowness

A pang sharpened

By distance.

The cavity deepens

The void widens

Clinging, Grasping, Suffocating

Self-perpetuated by exhaustion

Loneliness consumes,

Digests us all.

The whole world

Is steeped in it.

The most painful

Human experience

We all endure

Alone.

Author: Anna Riek

Anna Riek is a rising junior with majors in Organization and Strategic Management and German at Washington University in St Louis. Since she could walk, Anna has been skiing, backpacking and fly fishing in the mountains around Bozeman, sharing her desire to work to solve the climate crisis.