Poem: Embrace

Sometimes in our naivety

we sit and wait to grow.

Other times we run

head down, eyes closed

into the rush.

But run or wait it doesn't matter.

One day you'll round a corner

and your path won't be lit.

Stolen, misplaced,

blink and it's missing.

Your heart a memory, a limb, a promise, a person.

Your naivety has gone

and now your journey has changed.

The light of your path refracted,

leaves you pointed in a new direction.

Some won't approve,

Some will want the other you.

Some won't realise you have left at all.

But what has happened has happened,

and cannot be undone. 

We pay for our laughter.

We pay to weep - 

Knowledge is not cheap.

With each breath we inhale

we exhale

we inspire

we expire.

Every turn we encounter 

a new laugh, a new cry,

a new story, a new song.

Every conversation flows bitter

or sweet over the tongue.

And when you're born into loss

you grow from it.

When you experience loss later in life,

you grow towards it.

A slow journey to embrace.

An embrace that leaves you holding tight

the beauty wrapped in the grotesque.