ALIVE

We’re afraid
Our desire to become individuals
Creates anxiety.
We hesitate.
Looking to
statistics and pollsters
to tell us what’s normal.
We learn not to speak too directly to one another,
lest we offend or feel shame
but speak out in posts.
Declaring conformity
loudly
Yet to feel love,
To know it as sure you can know anything,
We need to risk everything.
A touch we think will be mutual
given without prior permission
can reorganize everything
you thought you knew about someone else.
Living will always be hard, mysterious and confusing
in a world filled of true selves
anchored by faith in their own virtue.
We may or may not get together
but one thing’s for sure:
We will know where we stand
This may be our only means for knowing
what it means to be truly alive.