Archers and Swordsmen

 little packages tied with dainty ribbons. small knots. that cinch tighter the more we try to undo them. 

i peaked over the edge. it didn't seem so high. until that last step. 

gravity whispered. i couldn't hear what it had said. velocity made me deaf. 

but the math was obvious. height. mass. acceleration. impact. 

all the pretty colors of our flesh unfolding. frantic and impossibly certain. 

the moment collapsed. a pity of selfish expectation. the lie opened its jaws. and we marveled at its massive fangs. 

we were strangers then. and we're strangers still. 

the questions are the same. only the answers have changed.