sapere aude
Lindsay Yamamura
A Fatalistic Phenomenon
Why do the leaves change colors?Â
Why do they fall from the trees just to blow away in the wind to an uncertain future?Â
Who are we to admire such a fatalistic phenomenon?Â
A saddening cycle of new to old to gone.Â
We admire the aesthetics of a destined path.
Living to fall and never get back up.Â
To be crushed by passersby, not even knowing they just fractured the fading, faded, and gone.
Do you know what heartache feels like?Â
Do you know what heartache without a reason feels like?Â
A hollow pulsing of despair that resonates through one’s skeleton.Â
A radiating feeling of unknowing helplessness that drains motivation from once glistening eyes.
The leaves will blow in the wind.Â
Time will continue to move forward. Life will continue to pass them by.Â
Passive passengers in the routine of existence.Â
A muted heart that can only observe, craving an escape from the fraudulent face of a people pleaser.Â
Yet, imagine a freight train full of butterflies.Â
A daringly hopeful image, raging with wonder.Â
A presence around an absence.Â
An encouragement to cease fulfilling the role of a spectator to your own demise.
Lindsay is a freshman Business Administration major and Health Humanities minor. She enjoys taking notes about seemingly random, everyday things and putting them all together in poetry.
about the author
My poem explores the theme of Destinations by highlighting the cycles that predetermine our destinations for us. In certain lights, these "fatalistic phenomena" can be seen as confining and suffocating, but with the right perspective they can be a necessary, hopeful image.