Hardships Lead To Beauty

What an honor it is to stand in this moment.

A mind filled with curiosity.

A heart pumping with courage.

Look from where I’ve departed –

A vast season’s change

From where this story started.

I’ve torn from the roots

Clenching the supports of familiarity.

Dismissed the hold

Of weathered disparity.

I am reborn.

No longer forlorn

In attitude or belief,

Or beaten down by the shadows

Of outdated grief.

I have survived.

Trauma is the epicenter of my strength,

The cornerstone of my conviction.

Blessed is this life for

It’s crusade against itself.

Of course,

I couldn’t feel this deeply

Without a fight to feel at all.

I couldn’t rise to the occasion

With first no reason to fall.

I am a warrior of my fate,

A believer in destiny,

A lover of beauty.

If nothing else,

I know I’m a ripple in the water,

An enigma of energy

In the cosmic nature of this place.

Effecting more than atoms,

Taking up more than space.

What an honor it is to stand in this moment.

With everything behind me,

And more up ahead.

I’m my own captivated audience

At the seat of a watershed.

Mystery is the only lover I know,

Planting her seeds of hope

At my feet, awaiting new life to grow.

And so I go.

Hoping for the best.

Only now I know it can’t be fruitful

Without some unruly test.

But at least I can see

With clear certainty

That joy and sorrow are a mirage of opposition.

The two are but one

In an exchange of anonymity.

Greeting them with equal embrace

Is the foreground of love.

I will choose this love over all else

Because, well, that’s all there is.