there are sometimes days like these

there are sometimes days like these

Delaney Young

there are sometimes days like these:
when life thrashes against life
and death is the color of everything.

but i adjust, always, i adjust
and helplessness begets itself again;
our children become playmates.

the many worlds of loss i live in,
they mock my singularity; once more,
i lose. what is goodwill in this galaxy?

nothing, nothing can prepare you
for the grief that runs down your back
when men like beasts wage war,

when death is greedy. any world wished for
is an impossibility now, a hiss, peace
lost and haunting the valley of the body

but we adjust, always, we adjust
and helplessness begets itself again;
our children become playmates.

i remember being young —
backyard games of inconsequential loss,
fixable worlds i imagined and forgot.

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Delaney Young
Songwriter & Poet

Delaney lives and teaches in Southwest France. Her writing has been published in The Portland Review, Truly Co., The Washington Institute, and Little City Magazine. In addition to being a teacher and a poet, Delaney is a songwriter. Her 2023 single “Wrestle” and more recently released EP “pilgrim memos” are available on all major streaming platforms, and a new EP is in the works. You can find more of her poetry and music on Instagram at @delaneylyoung_music or on her website at delaneylyoung.com.

Painting by John Ruskin