truth

Some jobs don’t work out.
Some opportunities flop.
Some relationships fail.

Occasionally
we lose things
we badly wanted.

Sometimes
we don’t know why,
and we never will.

Truth is a ragged homecoming.

In these moments
I swallow the air
and feel the reality of it
wash over me,
cool and blue and heavy.

It blurs my vision
and stoppers my breath.

It bows my shoulders
and staggers my steps.

But I remember
this is the tight squeeze

before the door, opening.
And, rising, I move toward it.