Here is the end of the long hard road --

They had told me don't look back.

Don't look back--

but I must

Because I felt defeated

I took inventory

not of failures

or setbacks

or losses

but of my victories and triumphs

no matter how small

or how obvious

Because they weren't so obvious to me.

My friend said

“You are my every-day hero”

What -- Who? Me?

Can't be---

Look at all my failures -- but

She listed my survivals

She pointed out my triumphs

She emphasized my skills

"Oh" I said,

"I never thought of that…"

I wrote them down to remind me.

And so began the end

of the long hard road.

And now I don't need to look back.