At the Cliff of Dawn,
Our future rises.
Its brilliance revealed in bursts,
Glimpses of its splendor
Playing peekaboo with the shifting sky.
Though its full luminosity is obscured,
We know it’s there,
Waiting for us to grab ahold of
And lift up above the clouds,
Like ladders of rays
Ascending through hearts and minds.

Darkness threatens to extinguish the light,
But we bring our own.
The fox cuts off the path to the den,
But we know how to go home.
We do this together,
Both feet in.

This hope is fragile
Yet full of “what ifs,”
Like seeds wanting to germinate
And grow into a giant sequoia,
Like an egg yearning to hatch
And dreaming of what and when it will be,
Like a pebble forming in the sand
Longing to turn into a cliff by the sea.

I will be me,
And you can be you.
We don’t need permission to dive.
There are no judges waiting to give us scores,
And we don’t need the perfect bathing suits.
There’s no one to stop us but ourselves.
We decide what’s next.

The fog holds me close like a blanket
In the quiet of this miniature world,
Stretching a foot in each direction.
I am out in the open,
Yet completely hidden,
Safe in my own space.