Break through.
Look at you.
I can see
something’s different.
Your eyes
open wide,
like a prairie sky.
No clouds behind them.
Your vision clear
as a spring morning.
Today you look alive.
Break through.
You speak
and all the words make sense,
like you’ve been thinking
on things for a while.
Calm,
like the breeze in the valley.
The river rolling
through your veins.
You haven’t spoken like this
in years.
Break through.
I watch you move
and it’s like you’ve traded bodies
with a much younger you.
You used to groan
with every effort.
You could barely use your hands.
Now, you have some rhythm
in your step and in your stride.
A smooth, peaceful energy
that I haven’t seen in a long time.
Break through.
If I hadn’t seen you,
I’m not sure I’d have believed
the story of who you are now.
Your transformation near complete.
Did you go home?
Did you see Heaven?
I wonder what changed your mind.
Last time I saw you,
you were living just to die.
Now you’re so alive.
There are few things
in this life
that bring us hope,
and you
are one of those things, now.
A man,
a myth,
a cautionary tale
that turned out good,
somehow.
DJR – 2022
