Courage

Courage

 

It wasn’t against the stone

or with the morning

that it rose.

 

It wasn’t in the night

or from the breakers

that it came to me.

 

It wasn’t whistling in a nest

or hiding in the breeze.

None of that.

 

It was a dark coal

that had grown silent

and one day, came to light.

 

Why did the coal alight?

 

Perhaps from pain, because pain

climbs until it snaps —

 

Perhaps because someone listened,

and listened wholly —

 

Perhaps because a flashing spark

flew in and whispered the truth

at your neck, as sparks often do.

 

How else could courage come?

 

Courage born of love, not bravery

 

Courage: making the canal wide with love

when life would squeeze it thin.

 

Courage only as wide as love.

– Tara Mohr

 

photo credit: Roberta Sorge