Holmes

If You Had Everything

There once was a man who could not die. All who heard his story longed to ask of the adventures that he had joined. The cliffs he had jumped from, the boundaries he had pushed past.  

There once was a man who could not die. 

He sat in his house with a lit fire, his feet propped up on an old box.  

That creaky, dreary house, dimly lit, is where he spent every day flipping through well-worn pages. He had been reading all day and through the night for years. 

For true adventure comes with risks, and he had nothing at all—no days to count or worries to share.  

So, he spent his time reading about people who could lose, wondering if he was even there at all. 

 

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Cages 

The cage she was born in has bars just wide enough for her to fit through. 

So, when the sun sets, she would squeeze in between them to collect words. 

She would put them on oddly shaped pieces of paper to fill the walls of her home. 

They create worlds all around her. 

They helped her escape the monotony. 

The world would seem less dull, repetitive, mundane, stale, and more meaningful in almost an incandescent way. 

So, one day, she left to find more words and traveled too far. 

She walked for days collecting words, and she found, when returning home, she could barely fit through the bars. She forced her way through, bruising her arms, to get in. 

She placed her words on the walls and sat down. 

She quickly scanned the room and realized you could put pages on bars, but you still live in a cage. 

You can walk through a door, but you always end up trapped. 

Locked in limbo. 

Gabrielle Holmes

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About the Author

Gabrielle Holmes is a Senior majoring in Educational Studies and English Literature. She enjoys reading, writing, painting, and staring at trees.