The Parts of Us

We turned our backs to the sun,
With bitter cold still biting our chest,
Though we felt the promise of endings to come.
Light rushed by us to push on the dark —
A roiling, sickly fog
Retreating, dispersing, its turn finally done.
And we stayed to watch it go.
We had to see it go.

And so another night has passed.
One of many, come and gone.
This one perhaps unique —
A bit longer, and colder than most,
And we were unprepared.
Though there have been colder still,
When light seemed but a distant dream
And parts of us went missing in the dark.

So. Another night has passed.
And for now, there is light again.
We can turn to the sun now,
Feel its warmth in our belly, our chest,
The bridge of our nose.
It’s time to breathe deep again, and free.
Time to breathe in the dangers
And know we can handle them,
For they are but small.

Because, night will come again for us.
Because night always comes again.
And we are never prepared.
When our eyes adjust to brightness
And the dark is but a distant dream,
When warmth has reached our core
And all our tools seem unnecessary —
We forget.

So waste not a moment,
And remember.
Remember the light as it was.
Remember the dark, roiling and sickly.
Remember the parts of us.
The parts that went missing.
Recall what we thought our future would be.
For now is the time to build something new.

We turned our backs to the sun,
Because we had to.
We had to watch this one go.
The day broke open, revealing our loss,
And suddenly we could feel again.
We wept and danced, broke and hoped.
It was right to do both, together and at once —
For all that has finished its turn.
And for all that the new day will bring.