On "what change costs us"

 

Kay Ryan's "Why We Must Struggle" from her collection The Best of It.

Love these lines in this one sentence (one question) poem:

"How will we... know what sustains us longest or name what change costs us." 

"how we can feed as upon nectar upon need?"

One time in therapy, I asked, "when do you think that I'll erase these scars?" She laughed in reply - oh, you silly fool! -- and said that they never go away, but you grow around the scars.

We change.  We move on.  Instead of being just gloomy in the fumes of failure or stuggle,  instead of just waiting for our organic self to recover, it makes sense to ask ourselves what nectar we can feed on in our need.