day not forgotten

I am haunted through the night
I wake to a day left behind
One dove sailing high
I brought down with a bat of my eye.
I can only learn
I can only push forward
A bad day, a dead bird, a failure, an empty pocket
cannot claim my soul.
I have misplaced my straight across smile
I may have left it at the foot of tomorrow
But I deny the lies that clog my head
I put down the fried promises of perfection
and leap toward painful mistakes of growth
The stretch marks of life are itching today
at my sad lonely display of failed tries.