I took myself out
of my narrow shaft of light,
the one I thought shone
only on me, the one that showed me up
as either worthy or unworthy,
but different, categorically, from others

How to explain this?
– it’s not to say
I don’t think I’m unique,
just no more so than anybody else,
it’s not to say the light
doesn’t shine on me,
just that it doesn’t shine on me alone

How could I have thought so?
All those years, that wondering
why I felt so lonely,
why friendships
could seem so hard to find
(looking for another
singular
shaft of light)

When all this time
all that I needed
was to look and see the sunshine
resting on every head,
on every life.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 27, 2020