The Christmas lights gleamed, as ever.
Bells jingled.
Happy faces and interlocked hands filled the streets.
Watching all this from my window,
I could not resist stepping out.
There was so much life everywhere.
So much warmth.
I walked past the crowds,
Counting my steps.
One.
Two.
Three...
Exactly on the four hundred tenth, I looked up.
I'd reached there.

I hearkened to the silence of the falling snow.
Then, I took it out from my pocket-
A rose, the same color as my bleeding heart.
I kissed it, and
Placed it on the stone
That rose from the blanched ground with sheer defiance.
"Merry Christmas, brother", I whispered.
A smile beamed up from the depths
And embraced me.