the sun setting closer to midnight each (still fleeting) day

the red stains of summer fruit on our lips and chins

how memories rise and fade like the blue of the tide

words like lanterns, lighting the way (after Dickinson, “I am out with lanterns, looking for myself“)

gratitude for wounds that steadfastly wake us up, day after day

looking up to see that the roses, too, still find a way to bloom every june

the willingness to move forward without knowing where we should begin

“no feeling is final,” again and again

questions that remain more interesting as questions

and endings that are not really the end

that every time you think you have lost yourself, further up the mountaintop you’ll find her again

and how i’d want you to see the view from here, with me. i’d hold out my hand.