Reasons to Stay

Laughter. The relief that comes from crying. The wind’s embrace. A warm cuppa on a cold morning. The things you don’t yet have to remember. Your moment to be someone’s reason to stay. The gratitude of breathing freely after illness. The chance to do better by than you have been done. Colours that return only in the new spring and the mid-autumn. That song that knows only the top of your lungs, or the bottom of your sorrow. The crunch of a too-buttered piece of toast. A smell from a better time. The places still to go. The faces still to know. A hope for a kinder tomorrow, or — failing that — a kinder tomorrow’s tomorrow. Today. The impulse of leaving is tied to someone or something and tethers aren’t meant to sink us. The freedom of being accepted. The comfort of desired touch. The love that you have to give and receive. The need unknown to you for you, your heart, and your unique constellation of stardust.