Your story is always there
if you need to remind yourself of who you are
like a stream flowing beside you
that you can always step into and swim with for a while
whenever you lose direction or feel vulnerable
and need to refresh your sense of self.
And when you’re flowing with that stream of memories
you might feel proud of how far you’ve come
to this moment of bright achievement
look back upstream and smile with vindication
at the fools who slighted and doubted you.
Or you might ache inside with failure
looking back at the meandering muddy tracks
that haven’t led anywhere
except to this place of pain.
You can be a hero or a villain, depending on your story.
Or you can let the stream flow by
and accept this moment in its wholeness
without reference to any other, before or after.
You can sit and observe, outside the story,
not as a character but as the author
grounded in another identity
that was never created
and doesn’t need a plot or conclusion
because it’s already complete.