I know you've had some hard times
What you may want
never seems fully filled up
Connections, or friendship: a glimpse, then gone
And you've done this to yourself.
But I'll ask you to remember
the night you made a fire
from willow and ash on the banks of a lake
Hid your bike by an oak
Slept under the sky
The smoke of the branches, how they turned black as they burned
below a sunset and sky filled with thousands of birds
And so many times like these
you've wrought, learned from, and done.
When you find these words again,
if you are in some lonely place
remember what you did, and why
It matters to have not chosen an easy way, there's
rocks and trees, living beings,
songs and sounds
maybe no one would have seen or heard
but for you.
— Elko, Nevada. 6 Nov 21