Zweifelturm

Dreams collapse with such a crash that you are left feeling smaller, more insignificant, like a lump of ash in the cold wind. But inside, beneath all that soot, a flame still smoulders. It is stubborn, like a child's resentment, and hot, like a kiss that leaves you wondering whether it will make things easier or more painful.

There is something strangely comforting about this: let life strike like a knife, let the advice to ‘get up and fix your crown’ sound like mockery, strength still emerges. It is in anger, in disappointment, in laughter through gritted teeth. And in the fact that even at the bottom, you can still hear the crackling of coals promising: ‘There will be a flame. We'll wait a little longer.’

And even if doubts stretch out like an endless sea without shores, one thought gives support - you can burn even when everyone around you is sure that only ashes remain.