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Joy
by Stuart Kestenbaum

The asters shake from stem to flower
waiting for the monarchs to alight.

Every butterfly knows that the end
is different from the beginning

and that it is always a part
of a longer story,
in which we are always

transformed. When it's time to fly,
you know how,
just the way you knew

how to breathe, just the way the air
knew to find its way
into your lungs,

the way the geese know
when to depart, the way their
wings know how to

speak to the wind,
a partnership of feather
and glide, lifting into
the blue dream.

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