A Tribute to Victoria, Canada

To the city of nutty coffee and intrusive men

Photo by Jasper Garratt on Unsplash

And, if I must, apologies to those intruders who I may have come off as abrupt and distant

For I leisure in a world where the kindness of arbitrary stranger is rare

For I have encountered more documentaries showcasing pure evil

Than encountered a simple act of kindness from the unknown

To the city of vintage architecture

and a home to vibrant colors of various life forms

You’ve had my heart, indefinitely

Reminisced in a daze of the days I could remain in yours

As the current moment would have it,

I find myself faced with the city that merely used to exist in a dream

Faced with the same buildings, sea port, and flowers I gazed upon the moment my laptop woke

You’ve taught me how to live,

Showed me where I have withered

and what needed being set free to be taken with the winds

You’ve taught me to stand, firmly, on one leg

even being seconds from impending doom

You’ve taught me how to fall, gracefully and with dignity, and to pick myself up when no one else could

To the city full of life in countless ways possible

and ways I thought to be impossible —

Chaotically, passionately, and unapologetically —

For you have given me courage to do the same.