the fantasies carry on in my mind—

but now, i let myself live in them.

i allow my imagination to travel and dance and feel as though it were my present.

and when i open my eyes, instead of feeling lost hope, i treasure deep in my heart the evocative imagery that i paint in my head, entwined with the reflection of a young woman, swaying without thought to the tunes of dimotiko tragoudi* as if in greece or the bossa nova, toes digging into the warm grains of sand in rio de janeiro.

i’ve held on to nostalgia for too long,

heavily harboring the sentimental longing of recollected pasts.

but today, i embrace being.

i allow myself not only to see but to experience the blue skies i have the ability to render.

i experience the imaginative just as a child would, perceiving the vastness of this world, its boundlessness, freeing from excuses and limitations—

i let myself

-k.t.

* dimotiko tragoudi is greek folk song