The tiredness you brought in
was ponderous,
but underneath, like phosphorescence
glinting in the wave of your exhaustion,
was elation  – at your progress,
and the high of having somebody to work with  –
the fast batting of ideas, the ready
use of tools, the way it feels
to harmonize a wavelength

Because of this, you went back out again  –
late into the night,
though you had seemed completely spent,
– proof that energy is generated
from more sources than we knew.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 23, 2021