January 1, 2021
If I could say
something
To myself
Waking up a year ago
The first morning
On my own
I would say:
Don’t be afraid
You are stronger
Than you think
More capable
Than you realize
More powerful
Than you imagine
Or can even start to
see
In the now
In the ashes
But don’t you know
How soil uses fire
Uses what looks like
wasted?
How all this time
When the scrolls sang
of dry bones
Coming alive it was a
riddle
Not a prophecy
You had to learn
How bare roots that
seem
So dead
Will awaken through—
Long winters
Sudden floods of
spring
Shock of summer
So much stripped bare
— And grow beyond
All you had imagined
You do not know
And I wouldn’t tell you
Even If I could
Because I believe you
will
Find your way
From the deep earth
To the sun
You will:
In your own
time
In your own way
In your own power
