this holy year

it started to sink in tonight,
as i sank into my bed and felt nausea creep through my stomach.

graduation:

"look at the silly hat they make us wear"

attention attention attention attention oh stop it

the baccalaureate:

as they sang i felt tears spring up but not fall
the weight of the words resonating within me
as i recalled the lines springing forth from my past

but my "newfound reason" quelled me; should I ignore emotion?

ah, the strangeness of it all.

but even as I move,
I do not move

I stay, again in between
neither in
nor out

and tomorrow I walk among a sea of faces again
each with concerns of their own
none less painfully beautiful than the other 

and I know I will wonder again and again and again
how it swirled so quickly
down the stream and on towards the river
raging and roaring, billowing and rolling

and these turbulent waters will not cease
til dancing and cavorting around the rocks and rapids
flirting with danger and weeping as we suffer
we will arrive at some great ocean

and be carried into the arms of the sea
entering from life to death
but not dying in death 
and not living only in life

for:

"life is not the opposite of death.
death is the opposite of birth.
life is eternal."

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oh, this holy year
of some great lament
some tragic loss
some deep pain

of love deeper still
to be promised 
but harder still
to accept

oh, this holy year.