###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
##@@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@@##
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
@†~:......                    ††                    ......:~†@
@††:::....                   †  †                   ....:::††@
###@$††~:. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†    †~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                   †  †                   .:~††$@###
####@$†~:.                    ††                    .:~†$@####
@†~.......                                          .......~†@
#@†††~:...  IN A BLACK RUBBERY SLEEP I DREAM ABOUT  ...:~†††@#
#$†:......         COLD BOILING ASPHALT AND         ......:†$#
@$†~~:....        CRIMSON EMERGENCY FLARES...       ....:~~†$@
@$†~......                                          ......~†$@
###@$††~:.                    ††                    .:~††$@###
#@††††:... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†  †~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ...:††††@#
@@†††~....                    ††                    ....~†††@@
##$$†~~~:.                                          .:~~~†$$##
###@$††~:.    THEY WERE TEARING DOWN STATUES, AND   .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.  BELLOWING THEIR MANIFEST, IN THE RAIN,  .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.               IN THE DARK,               .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
@†††~.....     AND SOMETHING FOLLOWED ME OUT, A     .....~†††@
###@$††~:.  YEARNING. A MEMORY OF BEING TOUCHED BY  .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.    A RAY FROM A RASPBERRY SUN. STILL     .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.  THERE, EVERYTHING WOULD BE GRITTY AND   .:~††$@###
####@$††~:   FULL OF TAR. RAIN UPON IT. BUT THEN A  :~††$@####
@†~:......  FEW BRIGHT AND COLORFUL ANOMALIES. AND  ......:~†@
###@$††~:.           A PROMISE FOR MORE.            .:~††$@###
##@@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@@##
#@$$$††~:.  LIKE WAKING UP WITH A BUSINESS CARD IN  .:~††$$$@#
###@$††~:.              YOUR POCKET...              .:~††$@###
##$††~:...                                          ...:~††$##
###@$††~:.  A FEATHER BOA WRAPPED AROUND A VELVET   .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.  LIZARD, SURFACING FOR MILLISECONDS AT A .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.    TIME, CALLING, TUGGING AT MY ARMS.    .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.   BEGGING ME TO SINK BACK DOWN AND BE    .:~††$@###
#$$$†~~... WITH THEM, WITH THEIR KIND. EASY TO GET  ...~~†$$$#
#$$††~:...   WASHED AWAY FROM THE TETHER, FROM THE  ...:~††$$#
@@††††:...               WAY BACK UP.               ...:††††@@
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
###@$††~:. BUT I CANNOT GO. THE CONSEQUENCES WOULD  .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.   BE TOO LARGE. ESPECIALLY SINCE I'M IN  .:~††$@###
####$††~:.    THE WORK MILL AND THEY'VE GOT THEIR   .:~††$####
##@††~~::.   EYES ON ME ALREADY. THE FEELING WILL   .::~~††@##
@††~~~::..  WANE, AND I WILL MISS IT, AND CEASE TO  ..::~~~††@
####$††~:.       UNDERSTAND. LIKE EVERY DAY.        .:~††$####
@@$$$††~:.                                          .:~††$$$@@
###@$††~:.                    ††                    .:~††$@###
##$$$††~:.                   †  †                   .:~††$$$##
##@@$††~:. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†    †~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .:~††$@@##
###@$††~:.                   †  †                   .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                    ††                    .:~††$@###
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
@@@@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@@@@
###@$††~:.                                          .:~††$@###
##@††~::..                                          ..::~††@##
@@@††:....                                          ....:††@@@
#@$††††~:.                                          .:~††††$@#