1. ASCENDING INTO OBLIVION (2025 VERSION)

With everything I've become, I hold my breath-
Pleading it was not all in vain.
For my freedom stands seconds from being stripped Away.
I've walked this old, scraggly road before-
The blistering sun scorches my feet, to guarantee.
I will earn my way down this path.

Yearning…
The answer I seek is not from above, but from Within.
Ascending into oblivion.
My mind, my body-
Elevating into the beyond.
What have I become?
What have I become?

Peeling layers of my flesh, morphing into
The unfamiliar.
Unpractical.
Cold. Bitter.
The sun sets over me,
Influenced by the darkness that follows the stench Of sulfur flares my nostrils.

Yearning…
The answer I seek is not from not above,
But from within-
Ascending into oblivion.
My mind, my body—
Elevating into the beyond.