The snow surrounds him
He stands idly by for a second
The tears welling in his eyes
Yet the bitter cold freezing all attempts
The stinging temperature attempts
To capture him
His body gone numb
He stands still
Wanting his mind to follow suit
Wanting to just forget for a second
Yet through the biting temperature
His mind seems to kick into overdrive
Trying to compensate for the stoppage of blood flow
He’s fought for every inch of every day
Never thinking the day would come
When he crumbles under the pressure
He looks around at the ruin of his days
Like an archeologists trying to decipher
What happened and where exactly it went wrong
He dusts off the rubble
Snow accumulating at his feet
And realizes it’s not tangible fragments at all
But memories
Ones that haunt him and rip him
From ever experiencing sleep’s sweet embrace
Each memory playing out over and over
As if someone took the pin off a record player
One snowflake lands upon his nose
As he goes to wipe it off
The realization sets in
It isn’t snow, but ash and soot
He turns around to see the remnants of his life
Engulfed in flame
And he stands by seemingly paralyzed
Watching it all burn to ash
