Charl.

From the tide at the river's end into snow in a foreign land
The first time my passport opened, the world acquired chapters
A paper ticket in my palm, a temporary set of coordinates
Different accents around one table, each speaking of the tides

I saw factory lights more orderly than stars
I saw a city write hard work into every breath
I believed that moving forward meant always surpassing myself
That the tide would keep rising and lift every boat

Then Shanghai's neon flowed across the car window
Everyone chased tomorrow, afraid of falling behind today
Houses, money, positions pinned our names to the times
I thought I had reached shore, but turned to find myself still in the waves

Only when the tide withdrew and the riverbed showed its jagged face
Did I learn that effort and results were never a straight line
The world had broken no promise; it had never promised forever
I folded away the old map and drew my own coordinates

Different cities, different clocks
I crossed the world, outgrew the map
Four seas breathing under me
No single shore can name me

I've seen the high tide, seen it fall
Still hear the ocean through it all
I've been everywhere, now I know
I don't need to arrive anymore

Before dawn in Bangkok, motorcycles cut across the corner
Last night's questions were still awake, arriving before the sun
Dubai was already dark; columns of light rose and fell
Splendor compressed into three minutes, performing the steps of an age

Some build walls for a century; some rewrite the entrance overnight
Some cling to the right answer and miss the moment of change
The old world has not taken its bow; the new has changed the script
Time was never a river—it branches everywhere at once

I have seen rules protect people, and seen them become fences
Seen experience serve as a key, then turn into a burden
Prosperity floats on the surface; beneath it flows human nature
To mature is to see clearly and still preserve your feeling

I no longer seek a city to answer what comes next
Nor let a single identity decide how far I go
A system may lend me wind, but it cannot steer for me
I learn every rule so that no rule can sum me up

Different cities, different clocks
Four seas breathing under me
I've seen the high tide, seen it fall
No single shore can name me

No destination
And no standard time

Different worlds
Appear on the same day

No fixed position
No final form

Los Angeles dusk stretches the shadows long
The Pacific never answers; it pushes the questions back to shore
An airplane vanishes into clouds, the city falls behind
What I once chased can wait now

I haven't grown indifferent to the world; I simply won't be hurried
I won't mistake applause for direction, or solitude for retreat
Success is only a cycle; failure is only weather
What truly brings the house down is the ability to set out again

Where the tailwind blows, I no longer ask the wind
Whether tides rise or retreat, I can hold on to my soul
I crossed the seas not to put the world beneath my feet
But to learn the sky never demanded that anyone arrive

The lights came on
Everyone was smiling

I smiled too

Until I forgot
Why I was standing here

Champagne tilted along the rim
People traded names and lies
Flashbulbs cut the night into fragments
Every face so presentable

They said: a little closer
A little prettier, a little more dangerous
As long as every eye is on you
Who cares whether you can still see?

The music grew louder
The air grew thinner

I stood in the middle of the crowd
And heard the world
Slowly lose focus

Three
Two
One

Close your eyes
Fall

Let me fall
Fall
Out of this magnificent illusion

The louder the applause
The harder it was to find
The last feeling in my chest

Let me fall
Fall
Shatter every perfection

If being seen
Is all there is

Then I would rather
Disappear from your sight

They remembered what I wore
Who sat beside me
The day I made the headlines
But no one asked if I was tired

Someone taught me how to smile
Someone defined what I should value
They called desire a dream
And dressed a transaction as a chance

I once truly believed
The higher I stood
The closer I was to freedom

Until that night
I looked down and saw

There was no road beneath me

The music suddenly stopped
For one second

All the room's brilliance
Rested on the rim of a glass

Far, far away
Someone was softly humming a song
So old, so warm

A song I sang
To myself as a child
Never caring
Who might hear

So I took off my earrings
Put down my glass

Wiped away
The shade of red they liked

Outside, no applause
No cameras
No one clearing a path

For the first time

I found the quiet
So free

I am leaving
Leaving
This glittering mirage

No need to remember me
No need to understand
No need to feel sorry for me

I am leaving
Leaving
While I still recognize myself

Let them keep
Keep
Trading the names of tomorrow

And I will walk through
The final flash

Into a dawn
No one arranged for me

Ocean breathing slow
Neon on the road

Sea wind follows the shoreline
A lighthouse shines between the nights
Starlight opens across the sky
The world moves slowly, as it used to

A Mercedes glides along the edge of darkness
Silver dissolving into the sea
No one says where we are going
We simply let time drift back

No direction
No answers
Only the night
Echoing

Kenting night so wide
Ocean on my side
Silver through the tide
We just let it ride

Kenting night so slow
Neon overflow
Let the silence glow
We don’t need to know

Stay in the light
Stay in the night
Stay where the waves collide

Palm shadows fall beyond the glass
Waves keep meeting the night sea
The whole island has no dialogue
Only the wandering wind

Lights in the rearview mirror
Slowly recede to dust
Like leaving an old dream
And entering the next journey

Hold this moment now
Don’t let the silence drown
We’re weightless somehow

Kenting night so wide
Ocean on my side
Silver through the tide
We just let it ride

Stay in the light
Stay in the night
Stay where the waves collide