SAUDADE

Identity is most certain in your

dreams, and most uncertain

when you wake.

While at rest, your consciousness

creates figments, rationalizations

of your lightless palette. In that

moment, obsidian sheaths part

as the mind’s worry is severed.

Once awoke, rationalization

vanishes. Obsidian sheaths return,

bearing added layers of self-abstraction.

You momentarily recall the fleeting utopia,

and fall back into cyclic motion

until night comes again.

Kevin Zhu is a 16-year-old writer and musician from New York. As a poet and journalist, his work has been recognized by Scholastic Writing Awards and is editor-in-chief of The Incandescent Review. He’s often confused with a college student going through quarter-life crisis.