It came to me, this year, illuminated in a dream,

As piercing in my soul upon a laser-focused beam,

This understanding, deep, of slogging through a distraught life,

The harshness plagued, repetitive, renewing pain and strife.

 

Not only me, but everyone, this tedium did hurl,

Its laying on of hardship as its finite hope unfurl,

The disappointment, heartache, of the living less than done,

The moment, ever missing, of the safely, warming sun.

 

The paucity of joy or peace despite prolonged attempts,

The weight of sighing endless days of tears, no hurt exempt,

To feel the walking luster lost, the dullness did me bend,

Of duties, missions, work that seemed a fruitless journey’s end.

 

Soon, came to pass, a yawning comprehension of this gift,

Unique, unfelt, but given from the start with strength to lift,

Then somehow make the trodden path extrude a hidden grace,

Extract from tears a secret sea of loving in this place.

 

And, now, so thankful, cloudless, have I come to this strange shore,

The one that I had missed while always searching as before,

For every pain and struggle, or the hurt or misled thought,

My grateful heart sings thank you for this ocean I had sought.

 

T.A. Leach

The Glebe, Mathews, Va.