I wouldn't doubt life's ability

to heal itself

if the process could be

apprehended in one's own lifetime

too slow by a mortal measure

does the harm disappear

much too much time spent

mourning the ache slow to fade

when even love itself is laden

with dark and broken vows

how long until the fractured heart

mends and beats its steadiest rhythms

this time is hard and brittle enough

to make anyone forget

these things that keep us whole

except in the privacy

of their own vulnerability

not everyone learns to process

not everyone learns to forgive

but most everyone knows how it feels

to get tired and in their decline

see all that came before

as prologue for some further

length in some continuous race

whose finish line

is far too distant to see

from any one stage of living

but knowing enough

that though the healing is slow

the recovery is speedy

even downright miraculous

as if the dark were laden with the light of love

Content (c) 2008-2011 Philip Milito.