The air tastes of copper and old wine. You are at the center of the table. The table is long. The cloth is white. It is too white. It is blinding. The candles burn low. The wax pools. It looks like blood. It looks like tears. You do not weep. You do not bleed. You are still. You are stone.

Around you sit the judges. They wear grey suits. The fabric is stiff. It crunches when they move. They do not move. They watch. Their eyes are dry. They are hungry. They feed on your silence. You feed on your own.

You are the soldier. You are the guard. You are the key. You are the lock. You are the door. You are the room. You are the walls. You are the floor. You are the ceiling. You are the air. You breathe it in. You hold it. You hold it tight.

Do you remember the garden? No. Not yet. The memory is a ghost. It is a shadow. It is a lie. It is the truth. It is everything. It is nothing.

The man at the head of the table speaks. His voice is dry. It is dust. It is sand. It is gravel. He speaks of duty. He speaks of law. He speaks of order. He speaks of the line. He says the line is straight. He says the line is clean. He says you crossed it. You did not cross it. You were it. You were the line. You were the border. You were the fence. You were the wire.

You look at your hands. They are red. They are stained. The stain is deep. It is under the nail. It is in the bone. It is in the marrow. It is the color of the earth. It is the color of the rot. It is the color of the life.

They call you a monster. You are not a monster. You are a mirror. You reflect what they see. You reflect what they fear. You reflect what they hate. You reflect themselves. They cannot look. They look away. They look at the table. They look at the plate. They look at the knife. They do not look at you.

The banquet ends. The plates are cleared. The glasses are empty. The wine is gone. The hunger remains. The need remains. The void remains.

They take you away. The door is heavy. The handle is cold. The lock clicks. It is a small sound. It is a loud sound. It is the sound of the end. It is the sound of the beginning. You do not know which. You do not care. You are the key. You are the lock. You are the door.

You are in the cell. The cell is small. The cell is white. The cell is clean. The cell is empty. There is a bed. The bed is bare. There is a chair. The chair is wood. There is a sink. The sink is steel. There is a light. The light is bright. It is harsh. It is cruel. It does not blink. It does not sleep. It does not die. It watches. It judges. It condemns.

You sit on the bed. You cross your legs. You put your hands on your knees. You wait. You wait for the clock. The clock is on the wall. It has no hands. It has no face. It is a white circle. It is a void. It is an eye. It does not tick. It does not tock. It is still. Time is still. Time is dead. Time is you.

You close your eyes. You go into the dark. You go into the garden.

The garden is green. The green is deep. The green is old. The green is alive. It is the golden greenhouse. It is the heart of the house. It is the soul of the home. It is the place where you lived. It is the place where you died. It is the place where you were born.

The glass is clean. The glass is clear. The glass is invisible. You see through it. You see the world. You see the sky. The sky is blue. The sky is vast. The sky is empty. The sky is full. The sun is high. The sun is hot. The sun is gold. The gold is light. The light is life. The life is you.

The plants are tall. The plants are strong. The plants are green. The green is bright. The green is sharp. The green is cutting. The green is bleeding. The green is growing. The green is eating. The green is consuming. The green is you.

You walk among the rows. The rows are straight. The rows are perfect. The rows are aligned. The rows are ordered. The rows are controlled. The rows are you. You are the gardener. You are the master. You are the king. You are the god. You make the rules. You set the law. You draw the line. You cut the weed. You prune the branch. You shape the form. You create the beauty. You create the order. You create the peace.

But the peace is wrong. The peace is cold. The peace is dead. The peace is a lie. The order is a cage. The line is a chain. The shape is a mold. The beauty is a mask. The peace is a prison. The order is a grave. The line is a tomb. The shape is a coffin. The beauty is a shroud. The peace is death. The order is death. The line is death. The shape is death. The beauty is death. The peace is death.

You see the weed. The weed is small. The weed is green. The weed is bright. The weed is alive. The weed is strong. The weed is wild. The weed is free. The weed is you. You look at the weed. The weed looks at you. It smiles. It mocks. It taunts. It defies. It resists. It rebels. It is the chaos. It is the wild. It is the free. It is the true. It is the real. It is the life. It is the blood. It is the heart. It is the soul. It is the self.

You cannot cut it. You try. You take the knife. The knife is sharp. The knife is clean. The knife is cold. The knife is steel. The knife is you. You swing. The blade hits the stem. The stem breaks. The leaf falls. The soil shakes. The earth groans. The weed does not die. It bleeds. The blood is green. The blood is gold. The blood is you. The blood is life. The blood is pain. The blood is love. The blood is obsession. The blood is devotion. The blood is everything.

You drop the knife. The knife hits the ground. It rings. It sings. It mourns. It cries. It screams. It howls. It wails. It weeps. It begs. It pleads. It asks for mercy. It asks for grace. It asks for peace. It asks for death.

You do not want peace. You do not want death. You want life. You want the weed. You want the wild. You want the free. You want the true. You want the real. You want the blood. You want the pain. You want the love. You want the obsession. You want the devotion. You want the golden greenhouse. You want the green. You want the gold. You want the life. You want the death. You want the end. You want the beginning.

You fall to your knees. The soil is wet. The soil is warm. The soil is alive. The soil is hungry. The soil is thirsty. The soil is you. You press your face into the dirt. You breathe it in. You taste it. It is rich. It is dark. It is deep. It is heavy. It is real. It is true. It is you.

The light changes. The gold fades. The green darkens. The glass clouds. The sky dims. The sun sets. The moon rises. The moon is white. The moon is cold. The moon is dead. The moon is a ghost. The moon is a lie. The moon is the truth. The moon is the end.

You stand up. Your legs are weak. Your hands are empty. Your heart is full. Your soul is heavy. Your mind is clear. Your eyes are open. You see the door. The door is open. The door is a gap. The door is a void. The door is a way out. The door is a way in. The door is a choice. The door is a decision. The door is a fate.

You walk to the door. You step through. The air is cold. The air is sharp. The air is clean. The air is new. The air is different. The air is outside. The air is free. The air is wild. The air is you.

You are outside. The world is big. The world is vast. The world is empty. The world is full. The world is dark. The world is light. The world is noise. The world is silence. The world is chaos. The world is order. The world is you.

You walk. You walk fast. You run. You run hard. You run far. You run away. You run from the garden. You run from the glass. You run from the green. You run from the gold. You run from the life. You run from the death. You run from the self. You run from the other. You run from the fear. You run from the love. You run from the hate. You run from the truth. You run from the lie. You run from the end. You run from the beginning.

You stop. You are at the edge. The edge is a cliff. The cliff is high. The cliff is steep. The cliff is dark. The cliff is deep. The cliff is bottomless. The cliff is endless. The cliff is you.

You look down. You see the water. The water is black. The water is deep. The water is cold. The water is still. The water is dead. The water is alive. The water is you. You look up. You see the sky. The sky is black. The sky is empty. The sky is full. The sky is loud. The sky is silent. The sky is you.

You look at your hands. They are clean. They are pale. They are soft. They are weak. They are empty. They are full. They are you.

You do not jump. You do not fall. You do not die. You do not live. You stand. You wait. You watch. You see. You know. You understand. You accept. You surrender. You yield. You give. You let go. You let go. You let go.

The golden greenhouse is gone. The green is gone. The gold is gone. The life is gone. The death is gone. The self is gone. The other is gone. The fear is gone. The love is gone. The hate is gone. The truth is gone. The lie is gone. The end is gone. The beginning is gone.

You are here. You are now. You are real. You are true. You are free. You are alone. You are together. You are apart. You are one. You are many. You are all. You are none.

The wind blows. The wind is cold. The wind is sharp. The wind is clean. The wind is new. The wind is different. The wind is outside. The wind is free. The wind is wild. The wind is you.

You breathe. You breathe in. You breathe out. You live. You die. You live. You die. You live. You die. You live. You die.

The story ends. The story begins. The story is you. The story is me. The story is us. The story is them. The story is all. The story is none.

The golden greenhouse is a mirror. The mirror is broken. The shards are sharp. The shards are bright. The shards are cold. The shards are warm. The shards are you. You pick up a shard. You hold it. You cut your hand. The blood flows. The blood is red. The blood is warm. The blood is life. The blood is pain. The blood is love. The blood is obsession. The blood is devotion. The blood is everything.

You look at the blood. You look at the shard. You look at the mirror. You look at yourself. You see the face. The face is strange. The face is familiar. The face is yours. The face is mine. The face is ours. The face is theirs. The face is all. The face is none.

You drop the shard. It shatters. It breaks. It dies. It lives. It is gone. It is here. It is everything. It is nothing.

You are the golden greenhouse. You are the green. You are the gold. You are the life. You are the death. You are the self. You are the other. You are the fear. You are the love. You are the hate. You are the truth. You are the lie. You are the end. You are the beginning.

You are free. You are bound. You are free. You are bound. You are free. You are bound.

The end. The beginning. The end. The beginning.