(for Jill Batiansila and the Together We Heal
community, with love and gratitude)

Whether we want to or not, like
acorns released from their jaunty caps,
dropping from valley oaks like arrows,

we crack, we split, not for any reason
we can determine, but because it’s time.
And the challenge becomes not to try

to climb back up that tree, attempt
to reattach to the stem we called home,
not to wish ourselves back to what

we used to be. Cast down into the dark,
we are surprised to find sunlight
stretching its long arms in our

direction, warmth embracing us.
We can’t believe that what’s
emerged from brokenness is love,

that in being cracked open, in falling,
our most tender selves exposed,
we can find the peace of place

in this spot where we’ve landed,
among others not unlike us—
there and there and there.

Just here. Just now.