Leaving is Believing

We all leave something at some point. Sometimes it arrives quietly, like a tide slipping out. Other times it hits with the force of a slammed door. It can be sad. Goodbyes usually are. We leave people, places, versions of ourselves we thought were permanent.

But leaving can also be a release. A chance to step out of old caves and breathe different air. It’s the moment you realise you’re not stuck, that you can move, change, begin again. We all know what it means to walk away, to look back, and to keep going anyway. Whether it’s slipping out of a city, shedding old skin, taking flight, or simply choosing yourself. Sometimes leaving is believing..

Leaving is Believing

Leaving is believing

Legging it like a lost, footless sock

A suitcase packed without a suit

To go and win medals for cowardice.

Departing is such sweet tomorrow

No notes, last bars or parties

Just the centipede movement of gravel

After dark, after all

Leaving is believing

Edging over an invisible precipice

Into thick air filled with hurt and hopes

A turn over the shoulder

With no-one in pursuit, except

The person I used to be.

Leaving is believing

Leaping over a life-leaking wall

In search of firmer ground

Leaving an old shoe in the mud

For anyone jumping the other way.

I’ve packed a sandwich of hope

In search of some filling

To spread my future a little thicker.

On the destitute streets my soul is a tramp

Gazing at the stars

Because the roof has blown its cover

Leaving an empty universe.

Leaving is believing

My bonhomie lies over the ocean

Packed into an old kitbag without any trouble,

Just whatever my heart could pick up

In that moment when loss became lost.

Looking at where the horizon blurs

into poor eyesight,

A destination no more than a rumour

Polished and made to sparkle

From a diamond in the rough.

Leaving is believing.

I believe in the future

It’s just a matter of finding it.

Roy Stannard 12.3.26

Music ‘Echoes’ Used by kind permission of Søren Bebe from the Søren Bebe Trio album ‘Echoes’ (P) & (C) 2019 From Out Here Music, Denmark