Alive Poem by RIC BASTASA

At first i wanted to write you a short letter.
the main purpose of which is to inspire you.

for so many nights I'd been thinking what
words to choose, how to put them well.

I've been imagining birds freed from their
cages. Fish flying trying to reach their stars.

always I've seen your sadness nestled in
that face, eyes that stare to nowhere and

hands that want to hold on to anything
wanting to survive and be whole again

i want to tell you how shattering into
pieces spreads us like confetti in the air.

i know what you will say: yours is sadder.
There could be no cure, and time is only the teller.

and so i have decided not to write one.
Instead, i summoned some words to put

them all into order, into a system where
i myself can be comforted too, for in truth

we are taking the same bus on bumpy roads
on dusts that try to choke us, on destinations

that seem to be too confusing where and when
to really stop and then go down from the bus

and find another place where we can be children
again. Freed from worries. Filled with laughter.

It is too rare to come back and say that nothing
really happened. In our brokenness we assume

nothing now. We gaze around and tell ourselves
'How uncertain can life be? How maps

become so blurred? How we revise everything
that we write? And for how long can we be strong?

But i see you with all your innocence regained.
You are strong as steel. And i know you will live

longer. You will take back what you lost.
You will be back in their arms again. Alive.