It Gathers Slowly

while the world blurs on,

buying groceries,

stopping for gas,

chasing after survival

and something else until

cracks appear across certainty

that things won’t get better.

Joy enters the earth 

one breeze at a time

burning the air, bringing

new people, new trees,

new sensations of lucidity

that swallow everything

which just moments ago

felt too heavy, too cold

to lift itself again.

One opening of light is strong enough

to carry empires away.

It doesn’t always happen that way; it can’t.

But you would be surprised how often 

hope walks quietly behind you, 

longing to be visible.