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Thriving, not surviving

the slow cello accompaniment
wasn’t haunting

it wasn’t doubtful

it was the soundtrack for the path she was on
and it was trapped in a coda

trying to find some gravitas instead of just being in touch with her own
integrity

it was the difference between surviving and actually
thriving

it was the recognition of internal strength instead of that manic need to grip
control

it wasn’t too much to hope for
because it was underneath the layers of clothes and cologne and masks of assertiveness and cleverosity

it was about knowing what time the sun will rise tomorrow
and how much earlier the next day

it was about mastery of meteor shower tracking
and constellation counting

and telling mythstories to eager ears of children

it was about knowing if that smell of impending rain in the summer
required an umbrella
or just a willingness to be misted in a sprinkle

it was about waking up in the morning
not wondering any more
not worrying about absent gravitas
but knowing which rules
didn’t need to be followed
and which friend to visit unexpectedly

for it was all
about
the
grade 4 daisy chains
and 104 year old grandmothers
and the smell of the long grass
going to seed.

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Stephen Elliott-Buckley

Post-partisan eco-socialist. at Politics, Re-Spun

Stephen Elliott-Buckley is a husband, father, professor, speaker, consultant, former suburban Vancouver high school English and Social Studies teacher who changed careers because the BC Liberal Party has been working hard to ruin public education. He has various English and Political Science degrees and has been writing political, social and economic editorials since November 2002. Stephen is in Twitter, Miro and iTunes, and the email thing, and at his website, dgiVista.org.

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