Here's To Trying! Poem by Matt Render

Here's to trying
Here's to pretending
Here's to holding back the tears
And fighting off the years
Here's to living
In spite of dying
And constantly lying
And never forgiving
Here's to acting
And exaggerating
And fabricating
Narratives and stories
That make it seem worthwhile
Here's to smiling
While the pain is rising
Here's to writhing
In perpetual discomfort
And the sustained effort
To ignore it
Here's to beginnings
Without endings

Here's to sobriety
And all of its misery
And all it's discontents
But still getting out of bed
Here's to painkillers
Disguised as normalcy
Sandwiched into mundanity
Here's to old lovers
Long disgusted with one another
Here's to idle activity
And cursed longevity
Here's to meaningless signs
Lemons and limes
And the endless dilemma
Of passing the time