On the days when I slow down

On the days when I slow down

I see that life is harder than they preach

I feel the nagging pain of a neglected body

I see the cracks in the new painted walls

and that my new love interest is not as tall

On the days when I slow down

Depression and anxiety make sense

I see that despair has a place in a world that makes no sense

But it’s on the days when I slow down a little longer

lurking in the mud of imperfections and deceptions

that I feel at peace with the cracks and the novelty

with the suffering and its necessity, with idealization and reality