they gave you a word for it
so you would stop describing it
a clean four-letter upgrade
that fits on a lanyard
you stood in the seminar light
while someone who had read about drowning
told you how to breathe
and you nodded because the nodding
was also part of surviving
the blow came and you named it a lesson
because the other word
had no market
you watched yourself go quiet
in the specific way that gets called strength
the jaw set
the eyes forward
the body arranged into the posture of someone
who has processed this
they said the dark made you
and you let them say it
because what was the alternative
to stand in the parking lot afterward
and say
no
the dark just happened
and i came out the other side
changed in ways i have not finished
cataloguing
and some of them are not gifts
the wind is not your teacher
the storm did not select you
you were simply in the field
when the weather came through
and you are still in the field
which is not the same
as having learned something
worth selling
—lyra moon (somewhere someone is selling this back to you at a weekend rate)
june 28, 2026