For You, This Season
If you are the one who finds yourself alone (or surrounded yet still feeling alone)
For the ones whose rooms are too quiet tonight,
for the people whose chairs are empty or cold,
for the hands that set an extra plate and the hands that hold nothing at all.
Carols are background noise to some, a foghorn for others.
That doesn’t make you small.
You are the exact size of everything you’ve survived.
If you’re on a bench with a bag for a pillow,
If your breath fogs the air like a small, stubborn comet,
If hospitals hum like terrible lullabies,
If your heart is a knot you can’t find the end of
I am sending you this tiny, stubborn proof: you are seen.
Light a match if you have one; cup your palms around the heat.
Boil water, make tea…even warm water is a small miracle.
Open the blinds and let the streetlight tell you the city remembers.
Text one name. Send one emoji. Say one true thing aloud.
If you do not celebrate tonight, this is still for you: for the ones who observe other nights, or none at all…you are not an afterthought in the universe’s plans.
You are allowed to ache. You are allowed to laugh abruptly.
You are allowed to leave the door unlocked for hope.
Hold on to one small thing: a scarf, a song, a memory, a breath.
Tomorrow is a long, patient room; tonight only needs you here.
If you can, pass a light…a call, a hot drink, a listen.
If all you can pass is this line, let it be enough: there is a seat kept warm somewhere in the shape of your name.
You are not invisible.
You are not finished.
You are home, for now.
KRSPEACE
Cross-posted with permission from the author, Krspeace.
Thank you for sharing your creativity so generously!
The Loneliest Flower
Àṣẹ & peace to you from,
Scarlet Ibis James
We see you…you are not alone. ❤️🤗✌️
Profoundly, compassionately hopeful.