Retching

Life is too sweet to gulp down all at once.

That’s what my therapist told me.

I told her I wanted to live like fire, 

Always burning, always catching upon every impulse

Like a child given free reign at a candy store.

How can I resist the chocolate covered cherries,

The sugared pecans, the candied apples,

These sanctified fruits, these sugary blossoms,

These glistening treasures that hold the secret of childhood

Within their crystalline shells?

How can one simply...see all this beauty

And not dive right in?

She laughed and said,

Sounds fun. But then you’d get sick.

She is right, of course.

Today, I watched children playing at a dirty fountain in a park,

Their hands and legs covered in mud,

Their eyes full of mischief and glee.

I let their joy consume me, their laughter

Run like sugar through my veins.

Even after their mother had called them away,

I felt the dancing of their little feet upon my heart,

The vibration of their laughter cascading down my spine.

So much joy made me sick.

Now, I have this
To offer you.