for toronto’s reset retreat centre 

only some hold 
both pleasure and 
storm 

despair nothing 
known 

and find 
consolation 
in the laughter 

a labour of love:
forgives,
everything 

allowing 
compassion through a 
healing act 

where i come to rest 
offers solace 
sheltered from dissonance 

it invites me to become the noise
the hush and hum
the stillness 

and all the spaces 
in between our memoirs
and eulogies 

in the maddening 
chaos,

forbidden
diaries subscribe to
an ethos of
care 

intimacies
that touch every 
word 

you once
meant to say
but couldn’t 

tenderly release
them into the 
disorientation 

of 
this 
dark matter

when you return to the 
frontier 

give my regards
to kindred spirits 
waiting on the other side 

to rejoice in 
pockets of joy 
and connected struggles 

if there’s one thing 
i’ve learned 
during my brief encounter 
with 

the stranger, 
  the self,
with god

eternally revolving
in fleeting 
moments:

at once,
mysterious 
and captivating 

it’s that,

to live in community 
is to deeply understand 
the plural of us.

lh
may 2022