The sun is low across the water
Turning everything to gold
I can see it on the buildings
On the glass I'm leaning on
I've spent years looking in reflections
For the things I ought to change
As if becoming someone better
Meant becoming someone else
But evening doesn't ask me
To improve a single thing
It touches every uneven surface
And lets it catch the light
In this light
I don't look away
I let the moment find me
Exactly where I am
Nothing has been fixed
Nothing rearranged
Still, for once
I like the way I see myself
There are lines around my eyes now
That weren't there a few years ago
A few more things I couldn't carry
A few more things I've learned to know
I used to think that growing older
Was a list of things we'd lose
Now I think it's learning slowly
What deserves to stay with you
The people who once knew me
Would recognize me still
But there are parts they'd never notice
That I've finally learned to keep
A breeze comes in across the balcony
And moves the hair around my face
Somewhere underneath the traffic
Someone's playing music far away
I don't know how long I've been here
Watching daylight leave the room
There's no reason I should remember
This ordinary afternoon
And yet I know I will
Not because something happened
Because nothing did
And I was still enough
Maybe peace is less dramatic
Than I always thought it was
No sudden change
No final answer
No moment where the past becomes undone
Maybe it's just sitting quietly
Without needing to become
Anything more
than who you are
when no one asks you to perform
In this light
I don't look away
The sun is nearly gone now
But I don't need it to remain
Tomorrow I'll find something
I wish I could have changed
Tonight I can be kinder
To the person in the frame
And maybe that's enough
To take with me
when daylight fades
The sun slips below the water
My reflection stays
