Waiting for as long as it takes

No matter how many poems you’ve read or
how many pages you’ve turned,

no matter how many rhymes and
line breaks you’ve heard,

no matter how much you want to add your voice
to the poems already in the world,

no matter how long you hold your pen
over the page,

you still have to wait for the words to come,
still have to learn patience

and how to surrender
to the mystery of silence,

still have to admit you don’t know anything,
still have no idea where the words come from

or how they make their way from their source
onto the page (through you),

still need to close your eyes and pray
words will appear on the page,

that your hand will welcome
whatever comes,

still need to promise you’ll wait
for as long as it takes

because it’s what you do
for what you love.
—