Planit

I didn’t plan to be here,
yet here I live and breathe.
Here I strive and struggle,
until I remember ease.

Here I wake and wonder,
’What am I supposed to do?’
Until my heart reminds me -
Just be here, be free, be you.

I didn’t plan to be here,
and yet I was welcomed still;
My needs met and tended to,
my cup filled and spilled and filled.

So how can I look in anger
upon those whose weary minds
forgot their very own needs
and couldn’t tend to mine?

How can I hold resentment -
though the world may tell me to -
t’ward those so lost on thorny paths
they see no passage through?

They didn’t plan to be here,
and yet here they live and breathe -
Their hearts caged and fenced off,
longing only to be freed.
Their pain hidden from the world
although they feel and cry and bleed.

We didn’t plan to be here,
and yet here we are, together -
Some flailing at the slightest breeze,
and others strong and tethered,
Collectively forgetting
this life’s lighter than a feather.
Alive, and yet asleep,
thinking we might live forever.

Here we all are
for one brief glimpse,
one blink of an eye.

How can we get so lost
and let our own life pass us by?

How can we drown in fear and rage
while days and years just fly?

Why can’t we pull each other up
to where it’s warm and dry?

When all is said and all is done,
we’re all just passers-by.
However our time is spent,
we all must live and die.
And when that moment comes - the dissolution of the ‘I’,
Perhaps we’ll wish for one more breath to say one last goodbye.
And maybe, as our wild and winged spirit starts to fly,
we’ll see that Love and Grace have never once left our side.
We’ll see that all we needed was to look life in the eye,
and say, with humble honesty, ‘Alright then - I will try.’

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Photo by Louis Maniquet on Unsplash