The space between
The night and day
The middle ground that does not stay
 
In the day,
the shining sun pierces through my squinting eyes.
Heat burns my thoughts
and melts my integrity, as my body slowly fries.
 
In the night,
the moon does naught, to warm or light my soul
As the canvas covers all
leaving me blind
and lost in the cold.
 
I cannot live, in blinding brilliance, or disparaging darkness.
 
I prefer those perfect minutes
when the world falls to a still
when the cicadas are in bed
but before the peepers start to trill.
 
The heat has lost its oomph, but
the ice has yet to settle
and the light takes on a harmonious hue
blending seamlessly like variegated petals.
 
This is the time, this middle ground, when I can find nothing wrong.
The world is perfect, if just for a second.
 
But sadly soon, the night begins, and then bleeds into day.
I try to hold it in my head, so the space between will stay.
 
— Jade Edwards, Grade 10
Mount Abraham Union High School