The Wish

Last year on my birthday I wrote about 56 Things I’ve Learned in My 56 Years. One year later as I sat down to write, I came across this poem I wrote four months after moving to Mexico. It makes me smile, it makes me a bit sad, and it makes me realize that I have grown a little taller after all.

I wish that I were taller
So I could see the things that other people see
I wish I was less vulnerable
So I could sleep more at night
I wish I was content
To still the longing in my heart
I wish I was there
Because here is too scary
I wish I was really here
So that I might leave the past behind

I wish you were me
So that you could know what I feel
I wish I were you
And then perhaps
And then perhaps

I wish that hearing ‘I love you’
Was enough
I wish that saying ‘I love you’
Came more easily
I wish I knew myself more than I do
Because I think I would be okay
With what I found there

I wish.