Permission to Fail

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 Permission to Fail


I, Sarah Emma Ruth,
do hereby permit myself—
and all my descendants
to fail. Fail wildly, miserably
painfully again and again
as many times as we are given
by God, by Fate, by The Big She.

In addition, I issue pardons
to all my past selves—
and all their many, many ancestors
(the ones we children label with
“good,” “bad,”) for each, for every 
single time they failed.

Forgiven, forgiven, forgiven.
In the name of trying, of quitting,
of holding on, and of letting go—
in the best manner anyone ever
knows how,

Amen.

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