Wouldn’t we wonder
Wouldn’t we seek
Look up
Wait for words
Wouldn’t we ask for our lives
Wouldn’t we give them back
Stand down
Receive the Word
Wouldn’t we fight
Wouldn’t we push through
Speak up
Deliver the words

Wouldn’t we wonder
Wouldn’t we seek
Look up
Wait for words
Wouldn’t we ask for our lives
Wouldn’t we give them back
Stand down
Receive the Word
Wouldn’t we fight
Wouldn’t we push through
Speak up
Deliver the words
My condolences in advance
When dawn dawns
When your light proves up
How you’ve chosen one who doesn’t choose you
When without masks, you’ve given freely of yourself
In vulnerability
In honesty
Maybe messy, but as a firework
To a soul-less soul
One steeped in habits of hiding and avoidant attachment
Devoid of words or a will to stay
Champion yourself, champion, and know you’ve fought the good fight
Though you fought alone
Though you shadow boxed
Know that next time, there’ll be no next time
No room for their prose in your poem
I took all the light in lieu
A select vessel
And with these, vanished to a sunnier place on high
I didn’t ask
Though it still pains me that no one put up a fight
There is more East now than ever before
Here, the Sunflowers turn their faces skyward
Earth and stars seem everywhere
The May-blooming Magnolia disappeared with me, too
Gracious, though
I left a single torch and White Tulips
For my shadow, who remains there, sometimes
I have been wished for
Time will see that I’m fought for
Cherished and cared for