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MERCHANT, Natalie


Giving up everything

Giving up everything

my hungry ghost of hopefulness


Giving up everything

not haunted by wanting this


Giving up everything

the fortune I was saving


Giving up everything

I mercy-killed my craving


Giving up everything

I've opened up my eyes for this


Giving up everything

see the whole magnificent emptiness


Gave what I want for how it is

for the stone inside and the bitterness

for the sweetness at the core of it


Giving up everything

The master plan, the scheming


Giving up everything

my cursed search for meaning


Giving up everything

the compass and the map I was reading.


The hinterlands I'm leaving

I'm finally leaving behind


Giving up everything

the big to-do, the hullabaloo

The tug-of-war for some twisted truth

For the everlasting ache of it

No longer slave, not chained to it

no gate, no guard, no keeper

no guru, master, teacher


See the slow-receding faces

dissolve to black, no traces