A Soul Healing by Degrees

A poem written for and submitted to the 2023 Cobh Readers and Writers International Poetry Competition. To view the festival website, click here.

A woman walks by, holding hands with a child
Whose laughter rings out and so do their smiles
As they play with saplings along a thoroughfare
And I wish I could find the energy to care

When an old school friend stops to say “Have you heard?”
His beaming joy just seems so absurd 
"We'll get snow today, they said on the news. 
I'm on my way home to change out of these shoes!"

“Snow, really?” I answer, “that’s too bad.” 
Not mentioning that I’m too achingly sad 
To care about this springtime snowfall
Or much about anything — anything at all

It all seems so gloomy, life so humdrum
Could happiness please hurry up and come? 
Confused and uneasy, I feel so out of place
Only until empathy doles out an embrace

I’ve just heard a tale from a million miles away
Of a man like me whose heart seemed to sway
From indifferent to sad, despairing to glad, 
And every emotion striking deep as a stab

He pushed his limits and worked hard every day
Held firm in his beliefs no matter what they dared say
The emotions he lived through weren’t foibles or weakness
They only served to broadcast his own great uniqueness

Disappointment, anxiety, the turmoil of grief
He knew them all well despite my disbelief
So I made myself a promise to look for little things 
Maybe — just maybe — some joy this could bring

Well, what do you know? It worked, thank the Lord!
Bit by bit I’m feeling better, all across the board
With thanks to that man who showed me it would be alright 
Who told me not to give in to the sorrow in the night

Now that I know I’m not by myself
I smile at my neighbour’s upturn in health
Stop to smell the newly bloomed daisies
Make silly faces at mothers with babies

I think of him often and hope his spirit is at ease
And I’m happy, now, head tilted up to the breeze
Gazing up at white clouds against perfect blue skies
And nothing but gratitude shining bright in my eyes

© Kelly Munro 2023