I have been severe with myself
(though maybe not as much as I deserve)
I have needed this reckoning
to see the many ways I’ve come up short

But then I keep on finding this release
that cancels out the penalty
with a surfeit of fine grained joys,
appreciation at the smallest scale,
a permeating of respect
that grants to everything
its time and place,
and in this governance
there is forgiveness
for me and everyone who’s lost the way.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 21, 2022