Don't be so quick to dismiss vanity and the fear of dying as mere weaknesses, unacceptable obstacles on your path to Perfection. From these particularly human traits spring too many of this world's wonders- monuments, texts, paintings, the melodies you unconsciously hum when you feel small and scared and lonely...

How does love enter the equation? 'Tis our love for life that makes the thought of death abhorring; 'tis our love for our own bodies behind our fruitless attempts to defy mortality; 'tis the absence of love that pushes us higher, further onto its pursuit. We yearn to be loved so that our deaths won't be without witnesses. We become vain because we believe we are worthy of love.

How much more can I say without losing you? If only I could think of something you've never heard before, a phrase that would brand itself on your mind so you'd never be able to forget me. An exercise in vanity reinforced by the fear of dying.

See, these days I don't even have time for philosophizing. My scribblings are little more than unsuccessful experiments in tension release, rivers of emotions flowing unstoppable and beyond my control; they built up whilst I was struggling to focus on reality's choirs and now are threatening to overturn me.

What will you answer me? You're casually drifting away, teaching me what it feels like to be left behind. I used to not care; then I changed my mind, but couldn't bring myself to tell you. Don't you know it frightens me when you read between the lines?

If I let go, will you let go, too?