Pain ceases
when all burns
and is as ash
on the ground.
Accept this and rest.
Welcome the humility—
your reputation burned,
your work gone up in smoke,
your sense of self lost to the flames
—and cease the struggle.
You no longer need
to be thought well of,
to be praised,
or even have an identity
outside of being.
You are ready.
May the rain begin to fall.
This Writer's Life 