In that nightmare world
where we all are graded,
our actions weighed, our choices judged,
where all of us know painfully
we haven’t measured up
to something,
could have done better,
could do still, if only . . .

In that nightmare world, we think
we might feel better
if we’ve done better
than someone —
we think there’s comfort
in knowing that, at least,
we’re not the worst

But we are waking from that world
and look: no one has been any less
than perfect and essential,
no one has been any more than others,
and no one, even us,
has made a trail of sorry choices,
no one has earned misery or loathing

Whole cityscapes of regret
crumble away,
fall and dissolve,
leaving the shining truth
for us to live in.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 25, 2017