Just enough time has passed
that people think I’m okay
that I’m myself again
back to normal
whatever that means
when in fact I’m a wounded warrior
a man who’s been in a battle
to cling to meaning
and to hope
and to a chance to heal.

How long is enough for such things?
How much time does it take
to believe you will be okay
maybe someday
in an unknown future
as the moon hovers mournfully
over the pieces of your life
littered across the ground
like dark humus
meant to rouse a dormant soul?

There may not be enough time.
How could there be?
Time is meaningless.
It’s here
it’s gone
it’s fragile
it’s tenuous
it’s mystifying
it’s merely a container
for the life you thought you would have.

That life has slipped from your grasp.
You’ve lost the one you loved.
You will not get her back.
There’s no normal anymore
or okay
or time enough
to heal the deep wound.
It remains.

Mark Lloyd Richardson
May 27, 2022
16 months