Despite Everything

I’d do it all over again.

As the day waved its white flag,
Night quietly settled in.
The disheartened sky couldn’t bear it —
Its tears kept the floor all wet.

Despite the melancholy of clouds,
I enjoyed the walk over here.
Silence fused with the liveliness of streets
When it’s after the rain,
When the air feels fresh,
And a quiet kind of calmness stays.

Despite everything,
Mistakes — I’d make them again.
For all the laughter,
For all the hate,
For every possible heartbreak,
I’d choose all the wrong men.

For every misery, every cry,
Its thorned path without any light.
With every sunrise,
The joy of rising anew.
With every dawn,
To remind myself
How beautiful the colours looked.

As she walked by,
The sky wept.
The bricked walls kept tightening.
The Keeper of Quiet Roads
Dimmed its lights,
And the night carried it all away.

Despite everything,
I’d do it all over again. 
In the end,
the quiet kind of calmness stays.

When I looked back in life, I used to see a lot of regrets. More than anything, when the biggest rupture of my life hit, I found myself wishing to change it.

Several weeks ago, someone asked me,

“If you had a magic wand, what would you wish for?”
And I found myself saying,

“None of it.”

Because all of it made me the person I am proud to be today.

If something hurts, endure it. There will be a day you’ll cherish all that pain.

If loss hits you, accept it. In that surrender, you’ll find your strength.

If you fail, let it teach you how to begin again.

If love finds you, let it move through you freely. If it departs, trust that its warmth still lingers in your memories.

Life is… life. All we can do is keep swimming —
and in doing so, make the most of it.

In the end, it is only the quiet kind of calmness that stays.

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