work harder
work smarter
I should lose sleep
forget to
feed myself
so directional
and solid
I should be

I could be famous
a success
expensive shoes, dresses
addressing the way
I
will
save
the
world
.

write that one book
that will have you reimagine
how you worship yourself
I’ll create something else
a legacy, an empire
an entire structure
to prop myself upon

up on my perch
I’ll look out
amid my accomplishments
and things I’ve done

and I’ll think I’ll find it
just there
around the corner

but where then
would be the time
to spend a summer afternoon
amorphous?

toes cool
curled up in a field of grass

how would I sit,
while it begins to rain,
with the pain of impermanence?

while birds sing overhead
head down and writing
fighting the story
that there is anything more
than this

water kisses the page
ink blots
I feel my age
my thoughts
gifts that will surely
not last

and fast as it came
the storm has passed

I haven’t saved us
but I’ve felt rain on my arms
I’ve smiled at a child
wild and without purpose
and in this stillness
I know the quickness of life