Dear You

Dear You,

What were you expecting?

Of course you are found in this shattered state.
Your downward plunge could only be THIS Great!
For wasn’t your climb up so steep for so long?
I’ll tell you why, now, you feel wiser and strong!

So when your hands lost their grappling grip
as your foot took that slippery slip…
and when it should have all gone the other way you knew:
When there was nowhere to climb to and no more to do,
it should have felt as it does when one tumbles down,
headfirst straight-down to earth, your face flat on the ground.
But it’s different – this time – there’s abundance down here!
The trail is less strenuous, the path is more clear.

“I know I cannot explain it all,” you modestly said,
“My legs are no longer tired, they feel giddy instead!
They see where they are going, with crutches to walk,
They’re slow enough to steal me a minute from the clock.
I now have time to tell you how it was when I climbed up there,
which muscles I trained the most, and the weights they can lift and bear.
But what did I actually climb for, if you come and ask me?
I’d tell you that, for the life me, I can no longer see!”

So from what you’ve said, I decide, that I can safely presume:
Your cripple has firmly stopped you from climbing back to your doom.

What else were you expecting?

Down here there are lakes, here is a vast terrain.
Down here you can dig to uproot reason in pain.
Down here, when your small hands lose their big grasping hold
of what they’re expected to do – just as they’re told –
your fall can no longer be from such a great height,
so you won’t have to feel like you lost a big fight.

This is more than you’ve ever expected.

The large cup of life is brimming, and you are but small.
For the life of you, I tell you, do not spill it all.
You climbed to train your muscles, and if you really ask me,
You climbed to fall and to use them to plunge into the sea.
There is plenty down here for you to un-know and to heal,
a sack of bodily symptoms with deep truths to unseal.
And please do remember, my fallen angel, though you are but teeny you,
the probability that you’re a miracle is higher than you knew.
It’s a faction of a great people who take a fall THIS great.
So take pride in your scars and crutches, and start on a clean slate!

Beisan A. Alshafei

October 24th, 2019