Small Things That Saved Me
These are not small things. I've just been calling them that so I wouldn't have to admit how much I've needed them.
The first coffee of the day.
A dog that doesn't belong to me
deciding I'm worth approaching.
Rain on a window
I don't have to go out in.
A book that knows something
I needed to know
and waited patiently
on my shelf until I was ready.
The particular silence
of 6am in summer.
A friend who texts
for no reason
at exactly the right moment.
The way a song can reach back
through fifteen years
and find you
exactly where you left yourself.
These are not small things.
I've just been calling them that
so I wouldn't have to admit
how much I've needed them.