I got lost for a minute there —
I could feel myself pacing back and forth
though my body was seated.
I was shaking at the bars of my day,
I needed to move, to scream —
well, I didn’t know what I needed

Turned out I was easily calmed
by cool outdoor air, and you
standing beside me. Turned out
what I needed was you by my side
through the narrow tunnel
of evening’s mundane tasks,
through the design challenge
I was working on.

It didn’t take much —
the subtle weight of
not abandoned, not alone —
to reestablish equilibrium.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 18, 2016