A Truer Story

We are hungry for stories,

for story is the mind’s path,

the promise

that we could wend our way

out of the dullness of where we think we are

to something redemptive, 

something we can almost taste

And we are foiled

by the devil’s practice

of shoving the tails of the stories

into their mouths, of making sure

they only lead us back

to the same place

We are foiled by opposition —

by the assertion

that stories require enemies —

good guys and bad guys,

even if only in our own minds

There is a truer story.

It exists in the place before the impulse,

before the thought. It exists

in searing lifting pure light

of your still unnamed desire,

and if you follow it,

it will lead you home.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 19, 2019