Here is our affirmation,
the one we’ve been waiting for,

the one we should have heard this morning when we
left the house for work and
forgot the keys
on the kitchen counter,

or when we
left work for home and
took the elevator instead of the stairs,

or when we
forgot about dinner and
accidentally burned the casserole
(and we don’t even like casseroles)

here it is.  listen:

we
are everything we have been waiting for

we make the moon bring the waves back to the shore, and

the world would be a lonelier place
without us in it

we belong here.

and we are a handful, sure
scooping peanut butter
out of the jar with our fingers,
or promising
over three glasses of wine
that we will not – cannot – ever love another
poet – another writer – another boy – another human – ever again

oh, sweetheart. 

the deepest,
sincerest apology:
we are sorry, we are sorry,
so sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry
so, so sorry, sorry, we are so, so, so, so sorry
that we have loved every other person
and place
and thing

before we have ever loved us
before we called this body
ours, called it holy,
before we wanted to live here,
to share this space and make it
beautiful

here is our affirmation,
the one we promise to whisper in the morning
even when it is too dark or too early to believe:

I am the best thing
that could have happened to me.

 

 

 

Demi Richardson studies writing at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she is forever misplacing hair ties, pens, and her favorite poems.