Courage

Purple Phacelia Flower Field with Rising Sun and Rainbow

Courage is facing life in the midst of a screaming reminder
that we are but sojourners in this life.
And it can slip through our hands without a moment’s notice.
Courage is facing this reality
not hiding behind shock or overeating or numbness—
coping gifts for a moment.
Courage is letting them slip away
while facing the gaping maw of loss—
each moment precious and tinged with fragility.

Courage is accepting responsibility for treating
this opportunity with love and respect—
and as Mary Oliver has said,

To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal, to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and when the time comes
to let it go,
to let it go [i]

[i] Mary Oliver,” In Black Water Woods.”