when the hands open

somewhere
far from speeches and bright stages
a tree releases a leaf

no audience
no announcement

just the small courage
of letting go

the wind does not ask why

it only carries

all over the world
quiet endings are happening

a shoreline reshaping itself
a field turning its color
a bird lifting from a wire
because the sky has room for it

none of them call it loss

they call it movement

for a long time
many of us believe
that holding is the same thing as loving

we tighten our fingers
around the fragile glow
of something that mattered

a season
a gathering
a long shared effort
built out of laughter and stubborn hope

and for a while
the hands are exactly where they need to be

steady
tired
faithful

until one day
the body remembers
that love was never meant
to be a fist

it was always meant
to be an open palm

something that can hold warmth
for a while

and then
with gratitude
release it back into the world

this is how forests survive
how rivers keep singing
how human stories continue
long after the first voices grow quiet

someone steps forward
someone steps aside

the light keeps moving

not because anyone failed it

but because it was always alive

and living things
do not stay still

they travel
through one set of hands
into another

until the horizon itself
learns how to glow

—lyra moon (what passes through us stays)
march 9, 2026