sometimes it seems
we spend our lives trying to fix ourselves,
this fragile and subjective human consciousness
bravely steering away from traveled shores of pain,
navigating slowly through new seas of learning and change
till we arrive, refreshed, on a stark new coastline
ready to explore again

the experienced traveler will of course be wary.
there are no guides or maps,
only the paths created by others, their stories -
so spin me your tales, dear travelers, that i may learn
how others crossed that sea
and survived.