Crossroads

Crossroads

My body is cold and rigid, my hands like icicles on your skin.

I woke up in the morning to find the leaves had changed,

Frost weighing them down

Like so many memories I tied onto stones

And threw into the river.

I have always taken solace in the seasons and sudden transformations

And known that sadness would always melt into laughter,

Pain always explode into persistence,

And the dawn always make way for the beautiful shoulders of the next day.

But for the first time

I want to run my hands over the calloused rock knowing that it has been there

For millions of years.

I want to know

That I will always love you

But that our paths were never supposed to meet and that we should just feel lucky that they did.

I want to know

That fish will always have fins,

That birds will always have wings,

And that a bubble will always burst into tiny droplets when you try to catch it in your fingers.

In this way you will have taught me to recognize forever when I see it

And to let go of awkward structures that will never fit neatly onto my limbs and heart and soul.

You will have taught me that some things never change

But that stability will embrace us

And hold us up;

That our innate knowledge will give us the strength to keep journeying,

to keep dreaming,

and to keep listening

Until the next

Crossroads.