A note of hope for those in despair
When you find yourself
questioning your right to breathe—
breathe deep anyway.
No matter how small,
troubled and smothered you feel,
you are infinite.
Like the sky above
and cosmos beyond, you
are made of star stuff.
The dust from ancient
celestial graveyards is
swirling within you.
See! We need endings
to give us seeds that take root
and then—we blossom.
The simple fact of your
improbable existence,
what a miracle!
This does not remove
the daily grind and struggle
but my—what a tale.
Yes, you do have pains
but think as Camus once did:
of Sisyphus, glad.
This poem is a series of haikus written as a salve – not sugar-sweet, but real and encouraging – for those who have felt the deep gnaw of depression. I chose to use the haiku form due to its minimal nature – every word and syllable has heft. The poet must strip her work of the superfluous, leaving only the essential words. Petite and poignant, haikus seem to me the perfect size and spirit to be a balm for weary souls.
