She walked.
Backpack, long curls tied tight.
Cane to the ground and face to the tower.
Her smile said what she accomplished:
Moved,
At the end of her journey.
Her long time to think, grieve,
Find and be
Herself.
She cried,
Unapologetic,
Elated.
A fleeting moment of witness,
I felt it with her.
The pushing, walking, thinking, surviving.
The accumulated struggle.
Pain.
I watched it fall away for her.
For this moment,
Present and aware,
Face to the height of the cathedral,
Tears falling,
Unquestioning,
Breathing an exhale and
Inhale
All at once, walking alone.
I wanted to meet her eyes.
I wanted to hold her and be held by her.
I wanted to be in it.
I felt it through her,
And wished it for me.
I cried,
While my hand played thumb war
For the hundredth time
With a giggling child who was so
Blessed to be unaware
of the tightness in my chest
The pause in my breath
The desperate holding together of my bones
wanting to crumble to the floor.
All I wanted was to let go, let it fall,
In this, my only moment
Seeing something around me,
for me.
So glad for her.
So tired for me.
