This prompt made me think about the quiet moments when emotions are too strong, but the words feel too heavy to say out loud. Many times in my life, I felt something inside me growing, like pressure in my chest, and I didn’t know what to do with it.
In those moments, I often wished to take my guitar and play a song I wrote myself. A simple melody, soft chords, and honest words. When I imagine that, I feel like the song carries the part of me that I cannot explain. The music becomes my voice when I am tired of speaking.
Maybe the man from the prompt does the same in his own way. The “stake” does not go into his body—it goes through his art. He lets his feelings flow into the colors, the lines, the sounds.
His art takes the hit so his heart doesn’t have to.
And maybe that is what I try to do too. When I write or sing, even quietly, I feel lighter. The emotions leave me gently, through the notes and through the words.
