The Crossing

Come then. Sit a moment before we begin. You don't need much. Your hands. Water if you have it. A window, or a door you can stand at. That's enough. It has always been enough. Start with the water. Not a great deal. A cup, a bowl, the tap running cold. Put your hands in it. This is the first part. You are washing off what you've been carrying. Not forever. Just for now, just for this. Let it go into the water. You don't have to name it. It knows what it is. Dry your hands slowly. Like it matters. Because it does. Now go to your window. Or your door. Stand at the threshold of it. Look out. The sky, the street, whatever's there. Just look. You don't need to say anything. Just stand there and know: something is beginning. Not the world's beginning. Yours. This one. Right now. That is all. You've done what women have always done when they needed to move from one place to another. They made it mean something. They crossed. Go on now. I'm right here.