THE MIND’S VIGIL, THE HEART’S RETREAT

Tick-tock, tick-tock—each second, each minute, each hour, I can hear my watch ticking so loudly. Time marches on, indifferent to the chaos within me. Voices surround me, some shattering like glass, others slicing through the air, penetrating deep into my mind. Every word cuts me, a slow and relentless erosion of my spirit, killing a little more inside. Soon enough, I fear I'll become the so-called walking dead, a hollow shell moving through the motions of life.

But there's one thing I forgot to tell you: my mind hears it all, cataloging every slight, every wound, yet my heart… my heart has lost its sense of feeling hurt. It's grown so accustomed to the pain, to the endless cycle of breaking and mending, that it doesn’t even care anymore. The ache that once consumed me has dulled to a numbness, a quiet resignation. So, brain, do your thing—analyze, protect, and distance yourself. My heart has retired, weary from the burden of emotions it can no longer bear.

In this silence, I find a strange comfort, a peace that comes from accepting the inevitable. The tick-tock fades into the background, a reminder that time heals, or perhaps, time simply numbs. Either way, I continue, a soldier of routine, with a mind sharp as ever but a heart that has chosen to rest.