What I Settled For

The shower wouldn't find a temperature.

Too hot, then cold,

then somewhere in between

that wasn't quite either.

I stood under it anyway.

I could have kept adjusting,

could have fought with the knobs,

could have waited

for it to stabilize.

But I was tired.

So I let the water fall,

neither steaming nor shocking,

just indifferent and constant,

and I stopped trying

to make it better.

There's a moment

when you stop expecting things to be right.

When you accept

the mediocre spray,

the lukewarm compromise,

because fighting for comfort

takes more energy

than you have left.

And I'm still standing here.