When You Arrive

When you arrive I will tell you
That, of course, I have always been waiting just for you
I will tell you I, too, have arrived
Despite my impatience

Once you arrive, contrary to linear expectations
You do not, in fact, look back on your past
As all the life forces that led up you becoming the person
You were meant to be

No, there is a person you were meant to be
But, that person was written in stone from the beginning
You will, instead, look back on your past in shame and remorse
Of how far from yourself you drifted and tossed

Because when you arrive you will no longer
Be predisposed to the latter joys or fears or triumphs
No, nothing will seem to have been relevant
Or impeding toward the future with your true self

You arrive as you were born to lead to perfection
And all the witnesses of previous days will be the case against you
That you don’t deserve the steady mind you have earned
Because nothing will seem to have lead to this

When you arrive, you, too, will see
That now you can frame resistance as the battered
Imposing joy of delicate days of rest
Where you were blind to your blindness

And you believed you were working towards the day
Where all your efforts would gain the prize
No, you will not arrive that way
You will not arrive because of yesterday’s homilies or jest