Hopeless Opus

Drawing: "Hopeless Opus" - Nicole Nolte

In this drawing, the tree barely has any leaves. It once was beautiful, lush and full. Unfortunately, not everything beautiful lasts forever. Seasons change and the beautiful things we were once so sure of wither away - slowly but surely - no matter how tight we hold on or how badly we need them. Eventually they leave us and - much like this tree - we are left bare; a mere frame or shell of who we once were.

Light still shines on the tree - slowly giving it the energy it needs to stand as great and beautiful as it once was - but no light makes its way to the left side of the tree. The side of the tree the girl knows is dark, with very little hope of showing new life anytime soon other than the few lonely leaves serving only as a reminder of what once was there but now is lost.

The branches are thin, almost fragile. Without its leaves, it is left bare and vulnerable. Although the branches are so thin, a swing still hangs from them; carrying the weight of the girl. It symbolises the happiness she once felt and the freedom she longs to feel.

 She sits on one side of the swing and although there is no weight on the other side, the swing seat remains straight. Scientifically, this should be impossible. Surely the weight of the girl distributed unevenly should cause some form of imbalance? That's certainly what we'd assume at first glance. What we fail to consider is that perhaps - though she may look perfectly normal and fine on the outside - there is nothing left inside of her. She is empty; a hollow shell of the person she once was.

She's sitting on one end of the swing, the other side is left empty because the person that once sat there is gone. In their place, she stretches out her arm and welcomes a crow to sit there. She is no longer afraid of death, in fact, she now welcomes it. It isn't like she's living anyway, she's merely existing. She has no face; she doesn't know who she is. She was in the process of discovering herself but had her identity taken away from her. She's slowly disappearing; becoming one with the wind. She's lost herself, perhaps the person she'd lost took a part of her with them, leaving her empty.

She spends her days lost in thought; dreaming of the day she'll be free. She feels as if she's finding herself within these dreams. What she doesn't realise is, the further away she drifts from reality, the more she disappears. Slowly but surely the world is losing her. Not that she minds - as she is becoming one with the wind - she is being set free. As she disappears, she can only hope to find the happiness she once had; happiness that will fill the empty spaces in the deepest depths of her soul.

The thing is, nobody knows about any of this going on. Nobody cares enough to get to know what's happening inside of a person. People look okay and that's good enough for us. This girl looks perfectly fine, right? She's so far from it, it isn't even funny. The people in her life could help her if they knew what she was going through. If any of them cared enough to ask her what's tearing her apart. If any of them cared enough to do something about it.

 They all witnessed her destruction first hand. Yet, they were all left to wonder why all she knew was darkness, though the stars once shone in her soul. What people tend to forget is, a star shines its brightest when it's starting to collapse...