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…And that's how I Died.

Long ago I purged a lifetime walking the desert
Miles and millimeters and furlongs and
Leagues stacked upon yards I walked and
Echoed the sound of my footsteps with my
Mutterings, sweat dripping from every possible orifice
(and some I deemed not possible)
The sun bleaching the landscape
With one single white all-encompassing ray.

However, it was not the heat without
But the heat within which troubled me most,
And one piece at a time I cast aside my clothes
And proceeded to run naked on the sands
With all my remaining strength.
The winds blew hot on my skin as the chase began;
I had accepted the sun's challenge, and
With each dune
I scrambled up like a fleshy sand beetle
To kiss another peak goodbye.
It was thrilling, as I climb another dune
And saw, not so far off, shaded cliffs.

As I neared these cliffs though I stopped.
There, blocking my path was my ghostform,
Shining so bright I could barely make it out.
I told myself it wasn't true,
That it was just some shimmering sand blowing about,
But it had my nose.
"LIES" I screamed, "FILTHY, STINKING…"
I couldn't comprehend it, but I knew it to be true.
The stark piercing glare off my sweat soaked skin
Had grown powerful enough to leave me.
When had this happened? How long
Had it followed, noiselessly hovering in the air?
More importantly, what did it want?

While I stood transfixed it reached out and
Touched my arm with one index finger.
I fell to my knees as a single burned black mark
Appeared on my skin.
I tried to rise, but stumbled and fell on my back and
My shimmering ghostform floated above me, then
Descended.
I didn't cry out, I "blacked out", so to speak.

I singed and burned like a green leaf,
My skin slowly darkened to pitch,
My teeth shattered from the strain.
Then I did cried, I screamed-
My heart still beat but my veins were porous
And my blood soaked the sand.
Wrapped around myself
Like a little shaking acorn I lay,
Shaking not with vigor
But from wind blowing large flakes of skin away.
Shrugging off the devil's dandruff
My remains became smaller and smaller,
Dull charcoal
Soaking up sun.