And the day comes, and it’s night-time
as this light could only be borne in darkness, the heir
to tears and tearing and a long Winter of abandonment
paved with icy shards of all we once were.
The day comes and among the debris of our stiff joints
a smile emerges, tentative, naked, unexpected
and we welcome it in perplexity
As we were no longer sure a smile was even possible.
May this barren mourning leave nothing in its trail
If not resolution, compassion and joy, a gratitude
of all that once was a future certain,
and a pre-emptive forgiveness of all that is yet to be.
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H.A., 24 Feb 2021
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