A thousand versions of you

There is not one version of you but many

Some explored and picked through

By you and others, down to the bone

Looking for ways to make permanent

A fleeting feeling or chance encounter

Like putting together a thousand-piece puzzle

With 999 missing pieces

-

There is not one version of you but many

Some waiting patiently for your arrival

Others crawling under your skin for release

All to be found between the overgrown shrubs

Where the path disappears

And the way forward must be felt not plotted

-

There is not one version of you but many

So cast off the ones still anchored

To places that no longer exist

Leave behind all that are moored to them

And let it all be free to dissolve into the foamy brine

Or evaporate into a mist at sunrise

Instead, point toward the horizon

And let the next breeze that catches your hair and stirs you

Turn you a different way

Knowing nothing has been lost