- in the name of Allah -

what of those ropes whose twists and knots don't aid or abet, whose twine becomes a means to choke and burn while its true dangers haven't even been met? how do these implements become less a strategic self-defence and more a path to sought-after refinement and lessons well-kept? as I once thought and compared both ropes and chains, I felt it fitting that one might be mistaken for another as they can end up feeling the same, purposes of which sight may be lost, unable to see past the meaning of catharsis as suffering often carries unyielding cost. it isn't enough for Sisyphus to keep pushing the boulder, as each dusk falls the task is no closer to being over, such is the inescapable tragedy pervading all the truths we want to sugarcoat with medicines and holistic sanity. even were in his world the absurd less opaque and divinity obvious in presence, it'd still be near-impossible to fully grasp the rhyme and reason behind the prevalence of hatred and rule by the malcontent. maybe if that boulder were tied not by fate to his arm or shoulder, but to the top of the hill to remain eternally still, not tempting or teasing of abyssal doom but of obstacles imminently firm and evidently reachable. such is the box of Pandora's that he must open, to endure the gloom within and create a path by which hope can finally escape in, but never have such simple boxes been more tenuous, even as the lid creaks, the phantoms start to chitter and chatter, chirping up at the thought of a fresh soul to swallow whole and devour. how many times will the tragic hero shutter the case, debating in endless the means versus worth of escape, of whether even if past that mountaintop there remains any thing or person or place equal to all the torture and pain? alas, such is the diamond-blade of hope, capable of sundering sheer rock but whose sharpened edge may as well cut tendons from limbs with only one step mistook or one word misspoke, avalanches ever threatening but always there as reminders why climbers live not without rope.