Almost All Right

Hiram takes the pills

for lifelong "clinical depression,"
which means "often more
than simply sad." When
the pills don't work, he

knows only one way
to try to climb out of the well:
to turn outward & do something
for someone else. Help them.

Connecting again like that:
it's like a rope. Hiram grabs it,
climbs slowly, his feet finding
niches in the deep well's
slick stone walls. Until he's

out, sitting on the ground,
breathing, looking around.
Ah, yes, the world again--
and it's almost bright,
and I'm almost all right.

Hans Ostrom 2024