this night
when she lit all the candles
in the living room
and sat down
on that same dumb chair
where she’d sat and cried
for years
feeling trapped in its box
its big arms that cradled
yet suffocated
buried under sympathetic pets
and inertia
telling herself just one night
she deserved it
pouring another
and another
like this red sea would rebirth her

only this night, these candles
have lit something new in her
suddenly they’ve illuminated
no mere elephant in this room, no
her box is already atop that beast
and it’s a damn mountain before her

it’s been there all along, just waiting
and she knows what to do
she deserves it

she’s still sitting, sure
the elephant is slow, but steady
and it’s a long way up
but there’s no way around it now

one step,
then the next –
forward.