POEM - Preparing To Let Go

And on the hundredth blow

and on the two hundreth

and on and on and on and on and on

we have clung on

as if waiting for a sign

an oracle or a goddess

to turn up and say

its fine, you can let go now, of that thought,

of that ideal,

of that well polished desire now

hanging off an edge of cliff, well,

this is not a life strategy is it?

its survival of a sort

for which hope has no sustenance

the longer you cling

it reddens the face, its the whitener of knuckles,

the dangling of nethers

forestalling only what is inevitable

grim determination writing itself large

in scrawled handwriting across the forehead

'we are getting ready to let go, please give us sufficient time,

to adjust, to make clear plans ahead, to get our heads around

the possibilities, engage with our fear, and

to prepare for

the falling of failing'

to find for oneself, if we will have new feet

and firm ground beneath them

to locate where

the unmarked path of prophecy

may now be.

Written on 27th September 2023

by Stephen Lumb