Tag: inspiration

After the Rain

some days
getting up is enough.
feet on cold tiles,
kettle humming,
a clean shirt pulled over last night’s ache.

you don’t have to shine.
not today.
just breathe.
just be.

let the storm pass without explanation.
let the sky rinse itself clean.

there’s no deadline
for feeling okay,
only weather,
moving through.

and when it does,
when the clouds crack open
and a thread of light finds your skin,

stand in it.
face to the sky.

you made it through the rain.
that’s what matters.
that’s the kind of strength
the world forgets to clap for.
but I see it.

I’m clapping.

Ryan Stone

6

You Are Enough

Not the loudest,
not the first to arrive
or last to leave.
You are the steady warmth
between seasons,
the breath that doesn’t need to be noticed
to keep the body whole.

You are the chair pulled close,
the cup filled without asking,
the hand that doesn’t flinch.

You carry no banners.
You don’t demand.

And still,
you hold up the sky
for someone.

That is enough.
You are enough.
You always were.

Ryan Stone

7

Deek’s Golden Day

A chill October morning. Grey
Melbourne, 1982. Usually, we students
would be outside at recess
running ourselves warm. Not today.

In the close schoolroom we huddle
around a tiny tv screen,
watching the Commonwealth Games
in Brisbane. Watching, in colour

as marathon star, Rob ‘Deek’
De Castella, battles two rivals
in third place through Fortitude Valley.
Close to the 42km finish line

Deek lengthens stride, sails
past The Regatta Hotel
into history. In first place he flies
down Coronation Drive,

and the roar in our classroom
echoes around the nation.
Lessons are cancelled, our bland
teacher whoops, and we charge

out into the brightening playground.
Each of us soars that day—arms pumping, coiled spring legs. We race through the yard
to imagined cheers and screams.

Ryan Stone

5

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