SURELY, WITH HARDSHIP COMES EASE

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Surely with hardship comes ease

my toddler screams and kisses me on the lips

his terrible squeal is making my earache

I wish I could sleep 

he hugs me tight, giggles 

I am his as I wipe the drool from his chin

my car is hit by a drive-by truck 

it rushes away before it can witness me weep

the tail end of my car flip flopping 

I call His name 

without there is nothing

not even the ache in the back of my neck

all I need is to keep my lips moving and raise my empty palms

last year there was a fire 

all my lifelong photographs were burned alive

my heart ached clawing at the ashes 

I felt what it might be like alone in the grave

soot wrapped around me and I sighed

when I passed through that tight space wanting closeness

the rose bushes every prick implanted a release

surely with hardship comes ease

today the moon completed a cycle 

within the cover of a cold winter are seeds 

roasting underground readying themselves for the banquet of spring

darkness needs to take a breath sometimes 

so that it doesn't explode into paint splatter

hard-ships float and swing atop whitecaps 

these ships break waves

as the womb sheds with the moon

and her fingers are cooly removed from divine script for what feels like forever

is just a few days

she is on fire 

a written firmament a process a moment to behold, a holy stage

a sage

between blood and constriction is fire 

the same fire

sparked within the darkest reaches of the forest

the jungle makes room for its children

How in hardship is there no ease?

absence makes the heart grow fonder

her separation from the book yields, her heart longs 

it's a cure, like moonlight

with hardship comes ease 

we have our ears covered and we hide under the bedcovers

awaiting the passing of this storm

we were huddled together, it had been years

difficulties reveal what we've concealed
in that moment of fear I felt Him so close just here

Near