Lizzy Burnam 🐞

Everything? No, not everything. 
Something will go sideways. 
Deadlines missed. Phone calls dropped. 
Words unsaid. Planes delayed.
At best, you will feel a loss 
the size of a paper clip. 
The drunken man upstairs will wake
you from a gentle sleep.
A storm will eat your sunshine. 
Something—perhaps a name, 
a letter, or an Instagram post—
will break your heart wide open. 

Everyone? No, not everyone. 
Someone will fall by the wayside. 
People die in small ways every day 
and never again return to fight for life. 
Double-locked doors and half-empty beds: 
These will hollow you out, if 
you let them. Do your best not to let them. 
If you have to, carry your teeth 
in your pocket, your bones in a briefcase, 
and your stomach closed in a fist. 

Dear one, your love is a violet flame, 
your dreams are smooth like stone. 
Your life spills out of your life 
and rushes to fill the empty spaces. 
Know this: Being okay is only
a matter of being, and being 
begins with a question mark. 
Heaven is the beat that follows.