In my mind peace is in a field. 

I’m holding my heels in one hand and someone’s hand in the other 

And it’s August and it’s raining and it’s dusk 

And the person I’m with is just as happy to be in the field as I am. 

We’re running towards the cliffs and Mr. Tambourine man is playing. 

         Then In My Life 

         Then Fast Car 

         Then Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 

    Then Rhiannon, but just in my head. 

I’ve grown. 

                              My face is bright again 

                              The pile of books on my floor only has three left in it 

                                                    Pride and Prejudice 

                                                    Daisy Miller 

                                                    The Pillars of the Earth 

              When I open my window during golden hour their dust turns into glitter. 

              I don’t spend much time there, in my room. 

              I fill it with books, boxes, baggage, blankets–

Maybe it even misses me. 

        I have a statue of a terracotta warrior, 

        A small one, 

        On my nightstand. 

                 It’s followed me from bedroom to bedroom, dorm to dorm, house to house,  

                 Because that’s what my grandmother had done, and there’s a bigger one in her house. 

                 By then the house will be sold though, 

                 And I’ll bring her flowers 

                               Y yo hablaré con ella a menudo, 

         And I won’t cry 

                                        Because to her death is beautiful 

                                                   A right of passage 

                                                         An accomplishment 

                                                                 She’s embarking.  

 

I’ve always loved to learn, but I’ve fallen in love with it again. 

I understand things better, 

Or maybe I’ve just found more things to try to understand

I’m proud of myself 

For knowing my ignorance, 

For taking in more to be ignorant about. I’m further out of the cave than I wanted to be when I read the allegory. 

I’ve grown. 

 

Then there’s the rest of the world, and I’m making sense of it, 

Them, 

Us, 

The world that’s ours for now but not ours to keep 

That turns us 

Further away, closer together, 

And I’ll understand it better. 

                       “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by things you did not do than by those you did.” 

 

I know it’s small, Zoom in. 

And I’m running fast but my breath is steady even though my heart is pounding 

Because I’m in love.

   With love 

   With Us 

   With music 

   With time 

    With words 

And I’m in love with life, 

And in my mind, peace breaks the rules and doesn’t sit still– 

                                    Along with Love

                      And hate 

       And war 

And the process.

                I’ll have claimed my process. 

It’s not the end goal or an enigma, peace. 

It’s a compilation of all of the things that make me dance and sing and sympathize and even when I meet those things,  

Peace is shared amongst everything. 

My peace, your peace–it’s ours. 

We share it with the field and the rain and the books and the warrior. 

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Peace, if I’m getting it right, 

Is everywhere but it’s relative and all of the things I’ll touch in my lifetime will bring me closer to sharing it with myself.                    (If I’m wrong, I’m right until further notice) 

You can’t catch me!

                Even when I’ll halt my stride in awe of the view.

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