Witness to Liberation

One is trapped in a hut halfway down a mountain,

and above, the earth opens its red mouth.

At first, it is only a glow behind d the trees,

a strange dawn rising

from the wrong direction.

Then the hill begins to burn.

The lava comes slowly,

almost patiently,

folding over stone and root,

swallowing every paththat might once have meant escape.

There is nowhere to go.

No strength can prepare the body.

No prayer can bargain with molten rock.

No miracle can pull lifeback into the world.

And still,

inside the ribs, hope beats on—foolish, faithful, human—waiting for the impossibleuntil reality reaches the door.

So everything begins to melt.

Fear loosensfrom the throat.

Hope lays downits trembling wings.

One prays,not for rescue,

not for retention,

but for liberation—for the soul to loosen from the bodywithout struggle,

without bargaining,

without looking back.

One does not walk into the fire.

One does not go to meet it.

One remains.

One lets the fire come.

It crosses the stones,

bends the door,

enters in its own time.

And when it finally arrives,

everything is consumed.

Strength turns to ash.

Fear turns to ash.

Hope turns to ash.

Pain, too,

burns beyond memory.

A smile remains before total surrender.

Not because the body is saved.

Not because the fire is kind.

Not because death is gentle.

A smile remainsbecause there is nothing leftto resist.

A smile remainsso the souldoes not leave in terror.

A smile remainsso the bodycan give everythingback to the earth.

This is true liberation.

Not the fire stopped.

Not the body spared.

Not the mountain forgiven.

But everything turned to ash—strength, fear, hope, pain—and still, at the final threshold,

a smile remaining.

And when heat becomes light,

and light becomes silence,

the soul leaves in peace.