it’s hard for me to feel
a sense of
accomplishment.
be humble.
look, listen,
see, hear,
no one cares
if you hate your
life.
work harder.
are you not
rich? do you not
have friends?
human is to be
an individual
but yes also
in community.
to be human is to
downplay
role of community
and exaggerate
personal
accomplishment.
even if it
doesn’t feel
like anything.
i spent months
building trails
through a forest of
evergreen.
the ground was dirt
until i stepped and
trod it to mud.
its softness again
made firm
through the addition of
thousands of pounds
of gravel,
spread,
one bucket
at a time.
there is no worry
of fire in this forest,
no not yet,
though surely
it’s coming.
i spent months
building trails
one bucket of
gravel at a time.
upon completion,
walking along
a hand-built path
through the evergreens,
i am asked,
“don’t you feel
good about
this?”.
is it humility or
humiliation,
to let a smooth tongue
catch in your
mouth?
words, words
won’t tumble when
pressed against
the briar of a
faltering tongue.
the heart leaps
in its velvet basket.
the bone that supports
us, always
it remains soft.
zakschafer.com 