A Clear Shot

I want to find my way back

to that clearing in the woods

with its pure shot to the Milky Way.

I don’t have a clue where I lost my way.

I glance back at my twisted path

and wonder how I missed that split in the road
between settling and speaking my heart.

Was it the day I decided to pay everything for love?
Or the day I thought I understood the reason

my father never spoke to me.

Maybe it was at seventeen

when holding my first newborn son

I vowed to love him unconditionally,

realizing it was so easy,

and wondering why my parents found loving me

so hard.

I’m longing for that place

where words don’t get tangled in the past,

where they define the moment for what it is,

not for what has been.

A pure place, unscarred by my tainted beliefs

With a clear view of the Milky Way.