There will be no more contests.
I, at least, will not compete
for those dubious awards —
most envied,
most evolved,
most tragically thwarted
(or more exalted ones
I deemed outside my range)
I won’t pursue them for myself
or for my children,
won’t play for them in back rooms
of my mind

I have had enough now.
It’s time to take myself and,
as I can, lay aside those filters
and those trappings.
It’s time to meet each being
with the attention that he or she or it deserves,
having been put here, after all,
in this place, in this moment,
so we could uplift each other,
so we could be in awe
of how amazingly
Life provides our joy.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 26, 2016