Relax your standards, the advice says,
these are extraordinary times.
Nobody needs to be perfect right now,
it’s not worth trying.
But what if my standards are the only thing
holding my feet to this high wire,
the only net below me if I fall?
What if every slip of my standards
is a slip of my foot
down a slippery slope
tumbling to a no-net abyss
I haven’t even considered because
I’ve been so busy avoiding
its possibility?
I cling to my standards,
avoid the news, avert my eyes
from the numbers, tell myself
I’ll make the masks tomorrow,
I don’t want to think about it today.
Today I demand clean hands,
square meals, fresh air.
Respect. Kindness.
Forgiveness. Space.
Perhaps one day soon
my only standard
will be
Breath
these are extraordinary times.
Nobody needs to be perfect right now,
it’s not worth trying.
But what if my standards are the only thing
holding my feet to this high wire,
the only net below me if I fall?
What if every slip of my standards
is a slip of my foot
down a slippery slope
tumbling to a no-net abyss
I haven’t even considered because
I’ve been so busy avoiding
its possibility?
I cling to my standards,
avoid the news, avert my eyes
from the numbers, tell myself
I’ll make the masks tomorrow,
I don’t want to think about it today.
Today I demand clean hands,
square meals, fresh air.
Respect. Kindness.
Forgiveness. Space.
Perhaps one day soon
my only standard
will be
Breath
THIS is why you need to do some listening partner time with us. :) It is all really so overwhelming, in different ways, at different times, to different degrees. It is important to have a safe space where you CAN fall apart, and be held, so you can come back together again, but stronger.
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