Here is the end of the long hard road --
They had told me don't look back.
Don't look back--
but I must
Because I felt defeated
I took inventory
not of failures
or setbacks
or losses
but of my victories and triumphs
no matter how small
or how obvious
Because they weren't so obvious to me.
My friend said
“You are my every-day hero”
What -- Who? Me?
Can't be---
Look at all my failures -- but
She listed my survivals
She pointed out my triumphs
She emphasized my skills
"Oh" I said,
"I never thought of that…"
I wrote them down to remind me.
And so began the end
of the long hard road.
And now I don't need to look back.