Departing Notes

By Tyler Noletti

Featured art: Wall Painting with Female Figure by unknown

Before I leave,

I must teach the things I never taught

But always meant to.

Students, faculty, community:

There is nothing that cannot be learned

And nothing that cannot be taught.

As a person, you can change.

The people you know can change.

Whether you’re abused or neglected,

Left alone or too bothered,

Or you’re on your third sleepless night,

Or you’re passed out in the gutter

Stinking of your own vomit and filth

For the fourth night in a row.

Maybe you’re one long day away

From calling it all together.

You might be feeling crushed

By the weight of consciousness,

Feeling lost in a meaningless life.

Maybe you just need someone to hold your hand

And remind you that the sky isn’t falling.

Or maybe that it is.

A moment is only as good as it is in that moment

For it is gone a moment later.

You might expect your next paycheck,

But may not expect it to be your last.

Perhaps take lighter steps because

The ground may fall from beneath you.

You may peel back the layers of the world

To find the collective fragments of life scattered and broken,

Then put them back together

To reveal an awkward picture

That looks nothing like you thought it’d be

And you realize nothing is what it seems.

You can’t blame the design if there isn’t one.

Build your own world,

Paint your own picture,

Quit waiting around for life to get better,

When it could always get worse.

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Tyler Noletti (he/him) is a metalhead construction worker who lives with his wife and daughter in Zanesville, Ohio. He enjoys extreme music and emotional writing. He's going to keep writing music and stories forever.