You may think
you want to go back
to the old life, the quid pro quo,
your place along the grid
of fear and confidence,
the little pleasures
in what you overcome

But once you’ve grasped the brilliant core,
there’s no hope for it —
that light will burn right through
all the warp and weft
of what you thought you were

They can’t hold it —
you have to find the structure
made out of the same stuff,
a practice that embraces it
and lets it shine.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 11, 2017