I shook myself awake
from where I was wandering
through memories of young adulthood,
ways I thought, and things I said and did

The mood had gotten tedious,
a haze of self-dissatisfaction
slouching in, making it hard to breathe

I didn’t ask for this,
didn’t give permission for my mind
to fill with toxins, for the mood
to be this semi-dismal color

So I shook myself awake –
I didn’t need to dwell there
and my past did not require me
to be paraded back, head hung down

For one could also say
that I was young, and that my ignorance
was not my fault (or not entirely)

And one could say
if I have truly woken up
then all of that was just a story –
none of it can cling to who I am,
and none of it can sully who I was.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 6, 2020