Lemon

by Kwon Yeo-Sun

The imagination is just as painful as reality. No, it’s more painful. After all, what you imagine has no limit or end.

Unable to penetrate the fortress of their relationships, I found myself outside its walls, completely alone.

Though we were only two years apart, whenever I saw her, I wondered if I’d also been as full of life when I was her age, and I, like an old woman, couldn’t help but sink into sadness.

Some lives are unfair for no apparent reason, but we carry on, completely unaware, like miserable vermin.

To be alive—if this indeed is enough, I won’t think about anything else from now on. I’m still here and each day I carry on.