Just remember for a moment.

Remember the last time you were left holding onto a hope that had long since dimmed. Words shared of things to come, of dreams to be realized and of promises to be kept were tossed into the fires of Forever Lost. Just remember the silence and feel the dread of the space now left beside you. Pause with that memory for a while.

Remember the last time you felt safe in an embrace and certain that there’d be another. There was once a trust in such consistency, a trust now dashed in words both spoken and unspoken, in promises both made and left broken. Remember the minutes where the ether grew cold around you as the hurt burned deep within you. Relive the moments where nothing made sense.

Remember the last time you heard the truth. There were moments when you could trust both the word and deed of your heart, moments that have since faded into memory. Now, remember the moment when you lost all things that anchored you into the joy of your reality.

Yes, please, just remember for a moment. Remember, though, for a moment only.

It is true we have suffered, each of us. We have made mistakes and we’ve had mistakes made upon us. We’ve walked lonely roads and whispered the saddest songs. We have risen, roaring a fierce determination that “this too, shall pass.” We’ve been the wretch and we’ve been saved. We were once lost but now are found.

Now forget, dear soul, all of those memories. Forget all of the broken shit you’ve seen scattered about your fields. Focus on this moment. We were made for moments like this, and it deserves our full attention.

Stand With Me

Please stand with me, and enjoy this summit of understanding. See what is around us and in front of us. Possibility stretches beyond the horizon, past the blue sky, and well into the depths our understanding. While there is no guarantee we shall embrace all of it, we are sure to have this moment, found in this spot and felt in this this space. Once we know what we have now we can then seek what is possible.

Nothing behind us matters, and nothing in front of us has been decided. What we have is a moment between two dates, a speck of time between here and there, and the power to choose paths of destiny. We can pick which path we take and then can choose to enjoy the journey.

Now I lay under the stars and seek your voice among the embers of memory that dot my evening sky. The cold north wind caresses my skin and awakens the wolf within me. I’ve once sought my solitude and fought for its mercy. Now, I seek my pack and those who will stand beside me as the winter tickles at my soul. I pray such beings exist, and that there will be a warm fire to share when everything around us freezes over. While nothing in our midst is for the faint of heart, we are not such beings. We have lived. We have fought for our survival and we are here to tell the story.

It is in moments like this, when we can lay warm even in the harshest snows, that are born in the pains of hell. It is a hell we need not bring here, but it is a hell that should give us pause to honor where we are.