I want to want things again, I do,
but wanting takes a fuel I cannot find.
The hope shows up and then falls through
and leaves the same old weight behind.

The friends arrive like they will stay,
warm and full of things to say out loud.
Then the forecast shifts and they're away,
just one more face lost in the crowd.

I catch the joy in slivers still,
a song, a scene, a darkened stage.
Enough to know it's there, until
the ride home turns the page.

So here I sit, too tired to chase,
too stubborn yet to call it done.
Leaving the light on just in case
joy finds me before I come undone.