Am I allowed to come back to
happiness as a normal state?
Am I allowed, despite naivete
I have been disabused of,
despite egregious flaws
of which I’ve now become aware,
to live a day in simple joy?
And maybe many of them,
day after day (like I’ve been doing)?

Can it be real that I have left the fear behind
(the fear of falling to my deserved demise)?
Here at my center,
a tender truth is telling me
stay here. Stay here always
to learn this yes.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 28, 2022