Then by Laura Foley

Then

The human world
kicks you in the head
again and again—

so you must seek beyond the No,
the song of dried beech leaves
ringing in the brittle wind,

a hollow tone to shiver you
like a tuning fork,
so the healing bell inside yourself

will resound, in quietness,
with Yes
and Yes and Yes.

by Laura Foley, first published in One Art

Editor’s Note: Like the best haiku, this poem takes a single image and applies it to the human experience with an emphasis many of us can understand.