bruce merrill

You think you need silence. A comfortable seat. A closed door. An hour no one will take from you.

The pain arrives first. Then, before you have finished feeling it, the no.

You keep checking to see if you have arrived. You haven’t noticed that the checking is the only road left.

The desire to want nothing wears the same shoes as the desire that started it.

You spent years reaching for something magnificent. The dog was at your feet the whole time.

You were told the goal was to stop wanting. The people who actually got there are not as warm as you'd hoped.

You spent your life trying to be the coffee. The cup was the part that was always you.

You kept swimming because the shore was just up ahead. Look closer at what you've been swimming toward.