“I have set before you life and death...” by Samantha Holt

“I have set before you life and death...”

Deuteronomy 30:19

by Samantha Holt

Stopping—this is what the dead do. And you, roaring as the stitches are ripped out of not-quite healed skin, tearing your flesh deeper, to the bone

wail with the lusty cry of a newborn. Your chest heaves, greedily drawing breath. The dying—theirs only rattle, a soul that shakes the bars of the rib

cage.

You taste the bitterness of ashes where your dreams have burned, but still you stoke the embers. I see you living, fighting, with the unmistakable vigor of one who hung

on the edge of a choice, and refused to let go.