A single tear
white-hot acid
announces self pity
abhorrent emotion

midday body crashed
I am foul-minded, drag-down
unreasonable…spiteful

shut my eyes against
a world of able-bodies
immune to the struggle

loathe this weakness
this intolerable disconnect –
body/mind detached from will

futility reality’s wall
could cry…will not cry
this day is not done.

Later, tasks accomplished –
I pushed through –
I sleep, awaken to nightfall

Soft pinks and blues
in a cottony sky
greet me – beauty
offering serenenity

and for a brief moment
a tinge of admiration surfaces
for the woman who survived
this day.

(Perception Softens first appeared here October 2018. I resubmit it here for my weekly challenge: soft. Image my own.)

I challenged myself (and you) this week to consider soft as contrast to the troublesome times. True to form, each entry brought a particular take on the prompt, and helped soften each…