I didn’t watch
the inauguration of Donald Trump
no
I didn’t watch
the endless counting of votes
I didn’t watch
the death tolls rising
I didn’t watch
the government prevaricating
I didn’t watch
the storming of the capital
I didn’t watch
the inauguration of Joe Biden
no
I didn’t watch
the speeches
of hope and union
I didn’t watch
history unfolding
I didn’t watch
the story
as we told it
I didn’t watch
no
I didn’t feel
fear
no
I didn’t feel
relief
no
I didn’t feel
hope
no
I felt something bigger
more determined
I felt a stirring
I felt
A wave drawing backwards
A rising
and
A swelling
I felt the crash of expectation
and the drag of the ocean
pulling me back, back, back
back again
Tossing me over my head
Throwing me to the ground
again
and again
and again
I felt the grains of sand beneath me
shifting
I felt the stiffness of the Earth
as the waves bashed
and bashed
and bashed
it into new shapes
I felt the energy of the oceans
hitting the soft sand
again
and again
and again
until it’s softness hardened
compacted by the repeated impacts
and turned straight into stone
I felt the wave as it slapped hard
into the face of it
unbending
unmoved
unthreatened by the power of the ocean
I didn’t feel despair
no
I didn’t feel foreboding
no
I didn’t feel fear
no
I felt the wave receding
drawing more and more strength
I felt the wave
building
again
and again
and again
I felt the hard stone bend out of shape
I felt it crack
I felt as it shed pieces
I felt the wave
carving out a shape
in the World beneath my feet
I felt the endless dance of the elements
The turning of the tides
there
and back again
The rising
and setting
and rising
and setting
of the sun
I felt the living
and
breathing
and
resisting
and
growing
of an organism as complex as a planet
I felt the planet turning
endlessly
around the sun
turning endlessly
in space
moving faster and faster and faster
towards the edge of the universe
where it all began
I felt the slow progress
of our solar system
marching on a journey
to the unknown
and
I breathed in
and out
I felt my feelings
float
through me
and out
the other side
of me
I didn’t watch
the inauguration
no
It couldn’t tell me anything
about humans
I don’t already know
I didn’t bask in the warm glow
of hope
I don’t need it
I kept breathing
in
and out
Like the wave that keeps crashing
crashing
crashing
into the earth
and out
knowing that with each small movement
in
and out
we are always changing
knowing
that all our small movements
in
and out
change everything
I felt
our continuous
and slow
and twisting
momentum
long enough
to see
just how far
we’ve already
come
I didn’t watch
the inauguration
no
I didn’t need to
no
I already believe
in the collective
power
of you
I’ve seen it
I already believe
in the solo
power
of you
I’ve felt it
I already
believe
in
you
"I already believe in you"... can I just echo that? ...going to feel the tossing of the waves now and know we're going to be just fine
Love this Hannah! We never stop learning!