Heat, the elements,
a hundred thousand injuries,
the way words can split
apart and shred,
bits of linguistic shrapnel
Late nights, early mornings,
baths cut short by ice,
the realization that everyone
seems to have their own agenda
That the one person who walks
with dignity and openness
may have been the one never
before noticed or appreciated
Inured to the conditions
of the planet, constantly calibrating
again.