On days like today and moments like right now

I know that something inside me is shrinking, withdrawing, dwarfing

I know because something feels empty

And the emptiness hurts.

I know it’s my heart, that scared little creature

One day larger than the universe

And today, so small that it could fit into my pocket

Requesting me to hide her in the almira, at the far end of a drawer

Covered in books, clothed by dust, lost in the darkness

Where nobody can see it, nobody can touch it

Oh, this scared little creature, how it begs to feel safe again

But how do I explain this to my heart

That what forces her to shrink down

Is the same thing that will one day make her grow.