How to Close the Door on Envy
A quiet practice in refusing comparison
Envy may linger, but it does not decide what enters.
🌑🚪
Before Envy comes -
🌑🚪
Your chest stretches,
A little taut.
You start to watch someone's hundreds -
And his naughts -
Against your own.
Little signs, not failures,
To note.
🌑🚪
Then pause.
Your life
Needs no ruler
Against his length.
His shadow does not close
Your door.
🌑🚪
Call his name.
Note the length
Of your own shadow-
Long enough.
No need
To compete.
🌑🚪
His shadow
Does not rise
To conquer.
Does not grab
Your gain.
Give thanks.
🌑🚪
Envy's shadow
Persists.
But your door
Can close
And lock.
Your shadow -
Not perfectly aligned-
But formed.
🌑🚪
Original poem by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental
For Vocal's Instructions for Feeling Challenge:
Join me on my socials!
About the Creator
Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin
Hi, i am an English Language teacher cum freelance writer with a taste for pets, prose and poetry. When I'm not writing my heart out, I'm playing with my three dogs, Zorra, Cloudy and Snowball.
Keep reading
More stories from Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin and writers in Poets and other communities.
No Word Comes Near Enough
The English language has its limits. I learned this when I became a student of the Bible and looked up the Greek and Hebrew definitions behind the Scriptures I loved. Some languages have so much more depth and power than the one I use to convey my thoughts. But, even so, I don't think any word could ever come close to describing this void and pain I am journeying through. I don't know how to swim through its murky waters.
By Shirley Belk6 days ago in Poets
Comments (3)
Beautiful poem. I especially like: “ Envy may linger, but it does not decide what enters.” It’s a bit like temptation not being intrinsically bad, as long as we don’t succumb to it.
Beautifully written
This is so great! Truly, it's not envy that makes things bad but what we do about it.