My body has continued to function the neccessities of life, but yet my heart is still failing. Someday it may quit entirely and stop, as it will have lost ALL hope and will no longer have the desire to properly function. As of yesterday, the light got a lot dimmer, and now my eyes are almost blanketed with haze and darkness.

Yet, another kind, a lamp of all kinds, lit up and encouraged me to take a different direction. On the way I spotted a young robin flying swiftly, desperately seeking something. Despite all of its beautiful bright colors and cheerful song, it remained alone. I did not know where it flew off to, nor did I know if it would live. But I felt compelled to follow this mournful fellow to see if it could find its happiness. I ran as quickly as I could to catch up with this poor lonely bird down a corrosively dark path.

After a small denomination of time, the bird just quit flying and fell to the earth like a person falling down a waterfall. I ran to the gravity-bound robin and caught it in my hands just before it plundered onto the ground. To my surprise, I spied a very angry snake for rescuing its delightful feast. As I smiled for my heroic rescue, the beast quickly slithered toward me and bit my leg. It soon would disappear into the bushes, angry and hungry.

I could tell that the poison was taking effect when I noticed I could no longer move. The bird, still severely injured, began to shed tears upon my chest, letting me know that it too felt my sorrow. I tried to pet the bird on its miniscule head, but could not do so, for my arms knew not how to move. Its head soon settled on my chest, using it for a soft pillow to rest.

Time continued to go on, and with it, more pain was dragged along inside of me. Just as I began to lose all of my hope and the darkness nearly consumed my body, I spotted a great number of young women accompanied by robins travelling down this terrible trail. A dim light overtook the darkness at this time, hoping that maybe one of these sets of travellers could help us. Some tried to administer to our wounds, but gave up midway through the process. Others did not even bother to acknowledge our pain, or that we were even there. Yet even more vile ones mocked, laughed, and jeered at us, spitting on our faces as they walked by. Although I could not move my hand, I could feel that one of these wicked ones had crushed my fingers with their feet. I wondered why these people would do this to us as we lay here completely helpless. But through all of this, we were taken care of by a beam of light shining through the trees. I wanted one of these people passing us by to help us out, or at least have one of the robins carry the tattered one that still lay on my chest. But they, like the rest of these women, acted just the same. Each one of them passed before us, leaving the two of us to die.

After the women and the flock of robins left, my chest began to empty of air. It was like a rope was continually wrapping itself tighter and tighter around my lungs, until finally I was unable to breathe. The beam of light picked my body up along with my friend that still rests on my chest and carried me through the dark forest, through the trees, and eventually into the sky. Although we are much happier here, my bird and I often wonder why we could not find steadfast love with any of our passers-by. As I took a final look on that trail, I saw engraved in the sand where we had laid before the words, "Romantic Martyrs".

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