i once lived in a place that was hard

impoverished—its people often

wore this as lines upon their faces

 

in this environment my soul

was starved for beauty,

distracted by the suffering of humanity

around

 

until i began to zoom in my gaze

to anything beautiful no matter how small

the colour of a wall, the carving on ancient door

a flower that blooms between cracks in cement

 

and i noticed and learned and grew to appreciate

what was there to be grasped

rather than being constantly distracted by

all that was not

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Victoria Strukovskaya on Unsplash