What Matters

What other people think of you,
what they say, are burdens
no one should carry. Lift a spoon,

a cup, things that fit in your hand.
Carry on a conversation, 
pick up a baby. Listen to the wind

when it whispers, nothing else.
There is no one watching you, 
no one straining to hear what

you say. The present has arrived
and you are in it. Your heart
is pumping. Your breath moves

in and out of your lungs without
anyone’s help or permission.
Let go of everything else. Let

your life, handed to you through
no effort of your own, be all
the proof you need. You are loved.

Terri Kirby Erickson, A Sun Inside My Chest (Press 53, 2020)