Arrival

How did I get so lucky

as to have these friends?

— These ones that I can sit with

in a late night cafe bar

(jukebox playing loud beside us)

This one who is an angel

This one who is so brave

And I can be here on this rainy night

embraced in brightness 

feeling so at home

How am I so blessed?

— To feel so known and loved

after all these years

To be no longer hiding

No longer silent

in voice or body

No longer separated by those awkward masks

But here and now

to be just me, with them, at last.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 27, 2012