Poem 

Sans

Images

We cleave to 

five memories

in order 

to keep 

our lives

in place. 

Each one

is by turns

devastating, 

fortunate,

revealing, 

spiritual, 

and 

fateful.

Is this 

what we 

are meant 

to do?

Stay 

where

our facts

fix us 

in faithful 

allegiance 

to life’s

turning 

points?

Why was

love and beauty

my soul’s 

intrinsic 

weaknesses?

Both,

ironically 

caused me 

pain

as nothing 

else 

could.

I 

need

only

consider

their loss

to realize

who

I always

was.

On the

other hand

hate and hardship

inadvertently 

revealed

my

strengths;

one through

an act of

resistance,

and

the other

 through

acceptance.

Maybe 

I 

needed

the contrast

of the other

to
finally
come to

my

worth.

Peter Valentyne

May 9th, 2019