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I Will Not Falter

Published: 20 May 2019

I will not falter.

I will exhaust my vocabulary
and every memory that was influenced
by all good things that I have
heard, read, and felt from
the works of others better than I.

If I see the back of your head
I will think of it simply as
an eclipse that is temporary,
a fleeting celestial event
that means nothing.

If I see you run past the holes
in the walls that I would never build
I will think of it only as the wind
blowing to sway the branches
of invisible woods.

If I see you again in the spaces
looking forward and back but not sideways
I will simply think that you are careful
not to stumble nor fall on a hard concrete floor
knowing that scratches and wounds
do not hurt as much as an open letter.

I will not falter.

I will lay many words on paper
and leave my heart and what's left
of my mind in each of them.

But I will never force you to listen
to what you do not want to hear.