The Reaper

photo by Amy Thompson

everything you want

will come much, much longer

after you first decided

that you wanted it

I’m sorry-not-so-sorry

darling

but it’s true

waiting is the game I have mastered

you can, too

wait with love

wait with grace

wait with hope

wait with trust

wait for a long time

in appreciation

of your awareness

that you are waiting

and

for a long time

I am here telling you

time’s oracle

here’s how the “magic” works—

you work

you practice

you write

you flow

you plan

you water

you sow

you will reap

I promise you

after the aforementioned

list

is

complete

in the meantime

laugh and cry

laugh and live

cry hardest when you learn

life’s two brutal beauty-full truths

there are no shortcuts

and

the work feels long

while life’s span is short

once you’ve bawled

your gorgeous eyes out

at the wrenching liberating

truth

of the

ratio

of the sowing

to the reaping

then finally you are free

to do the work

free to laugh

at the foolhardily-short runway

assigned by your human mis(perceptions)

of the glorious lifelong demands

of the work you are here to do

cry your eyes out

until they dry

open your mouth to laugh

then you reap