Again I see I haven’t changed
(this observation, too, it seems,
I”ve had with equal puzzlement before)

Here I was thinking I’d come so far,
so many steps on the relentless road,
so many lessons,
so much left behind,
so many strengths newly accrued

But now I see that I was writing
about the same things years ago,
exclaiming over these same revelations
and views I was delighted to outgrow

I could be rueful,
or I could conclude
my wing tilt is designed for updrafts  –
it’s in my nature
to feel like flying,
a habit I instinctively employ  –
the sense of gain is not illusion really –
it’s just the uplift of my native joy.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 20, 2022