Six Seconds To Live.

Her body is tied, twisted- her backbone
tightly woven around
a blatantly solid red parachute.
And the silence in the desert
pains her....
no one is watching
yet everyone is waiting.

The effects of dopamine simply
tell her she is repeatedly hitting
the red danger button.

And she bites down,
hanging back.

Maybe this is suicide...
Maybe she is a psychopath,
Maybe she doesn't want to live.

But the world stares back at her,
harshly, with conviction
and her feet become steady.
She will fight back
prove to the cliffs and setting sun
that they won't see her drop
to the end.

There will be no end...

She jumps, legs sprawled out
arms like wings of a phoenix-
and the only factor preventing her
from flying
is fear itself.

Written on March 6, 2012.

Anatomy class was my inspiration for this one! Watched a video that talked about fear: fear of cliff diving and what goes on inside the human brain during that decision/action. Really interested me. Thanks for reading!