Everything Is Already Leaving

Put your hand in the river, feel it moving past The water touching your skin right now won't last Even the riverbed is shifting, grain by grain The banks that look so solid are wearing away the same

Everything is already leaving, even as it arrives The moment you can finally hold it is the moment it's already behind Just the shape a moment takes, plain and unadorned It was never going to stay, and staying was never the point it makes

You could try to freeze the river, dam it, hold it still But the water piling up behind still wants to move downhill The stillness you're chasing was never really an option here Only motion, dressed up sometimes to look like it's staying near

Everything is already leaving, even as it arrives The moment you can finally hold it is the moment it's already behind The face in the mirror this morning left with yesterday Some new version of you quietly took its place

This isn't about loss, though it can feel that way It's about the shape of a life, moving anyway Every cell in your body has been replaced some years ago You're a river wearing a name, a pattern that keeps flowing

Everything is already leaving, even as it arrives The moment you can finally hold it is the moment it's already behind So love the water while it's moving past your hand Not because it stays, but because for now, it can

Everything is already leaving, and that's simply the shape of being here Just a river to walk beside, no wall worth building here Feel it moving, let it move, don't ask it to be still The same hand in the same river never touches the same thing twice, and never will