driftwood

I am a piece of driftwood, bobbing on the sea

Waves flow beneath me, sweeping me up before I roll back down again; rise and fall, push and pull

It has always been this way, floating in the midst of a cold, damp nothingness, surrounded by no place to call home

Lifted by the weight of the world, I’m brought a little closer to the sun each time I ascend, and I could make something out in the gleaming distance

Light warming my weathered body, heat soothing the roughness of me, I see something new, something blissfully meaningful behind those clouds that shine

Because built into me all along were the spirits of a thousand waves, telling me where to go, how to rise and fall, sparking a hope like fire into the sad, soaked bark of me

Everything feels strange now, like this meaninglessness was a journey, like perhaps a sweet, safe haven is waiting for me to come home to it after all

Opening its arms to me, I will be embraced by everything that surrounds me in this world, and I will feel a sense of something, a new type of warmth, a belonging

Keep bobbing, keep afloat, as I know I must; keep floating just above the surface, just where I might be seen

And the world will reward me with a softness like a kiss, and with a stillness like I have never yet felt, saying this—

You belong someplace, and somewhere, because somehow, everything does