Amber Issue 1 - Feb 21

—sunset on venus—
Tang Sumi
if you walk on the surface of venus, you can see the sun setting forever. i think about
it, sometimes, you and i on dusty plains walking hand in hand, stubborn against the
atmosphere weighing down on us. venus is not kind to us, all 460 million square
kilometres of her, but we close our eyes and make her so. trip and fall into my arms,
weightless in the moment, and we will skid down the insurmountable horizon. venus
whisks us up but not away, flush against starlight leaning down to catch a glimpse of you.
reach out, darling. brush your fingers against the shudder of lethal beauty. the void of
space dances before my eyes, but i take your hand and breathe against the inevitability
of it. this is, for all intents and purposes, heaven, just you and i chasing the sunset across
barren plains. pretending we can hold it there forever, trapped in the eternal state of
leaving.
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