Life never seems to like me to feel comfortable for too very long. Just when I think things are going well, smoothly, sure the bell curve is on it’s way up, I will get hit with another tragedy, either real or anticipated, some other blow that knocks me off balance once again. But the more and more I make something of it, whether that’s a poem, a photo, or a longer story to share, I feel the easing of the burden, a release from the stopgap of worry, if only for a little while.

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to remember

I am not just pressure, pain
my losses, all sorrows
a list that never seems to end

I am more than they are
have more, still retain
joys, so threatened now
feeling very far away
they run fast, hide deep
buried under the trees
on a dark hillside
afraid to show their faces
in the wake of this threat
a pendulum hanging heavy
over all I see, feel, do
I cannot speak its name
the thing I fear, so close
to whisper even would
make it real, true, possible
a weight from under which
I may never climb out
preferring instead to stay
quiet, asleep with my love
my soul bound

but there is more, I know
to live for, remember
not just to die along
with all that is gone forever
passed out of this world
left me here to wait
on a time when all of us
will meet anew
there is more to come
I must stay, remain
alive, breathing, present
holding fast to iron rods
driven deep underground
drawing down the lightning
fixed points, so solid
keeping me in this world

for all I have yet to do,
there is that to cling to
and remember.