Story
Originally published in Tadpole Press Literary Magazine
(April 2024 Contest Issue).
Let me tell you a story
that you may tell to others,
and those others may tell it to yet others.
With each telling,
the story will change.
With each change,
the truth will wither.
Leaving behind a story,
that you will like—
a story that is simple.
Simpler and simpler,
it will get.
Thinner and thinner,
the truth will be.
Then one day,
in the depths of your despair,
you will meet courage.
It will ask you:
Does the story touch your heart?
Does it swell a tear in your eyes?
And you will say,
Tell me the story all over again.