Confidence
is the sand
slipping through a sifter
with openings
small enough
to catch
a rock
a shell
something
but they don't

Because Confidence
is elusive
you can have
the most
advanced sifter
and a stack of
twenty thousand others
below it
and none of them
will collect anything
worthwhile

Because Confidence
is a game
everybody else
has won already
they have their prizes
yet you are left empty
you can filter sand
as well as anyone
but your results
belie you

Because Confidence
is a mirage
those sand sifters
could right now
be filling with
piles of sea glass
or hermit crabs
they could be holding
little people
in little beach resorts
if you believe it

I have that stack
of twenty thousand sifters
with the smallest holes possible
and I have caught nothing
that must be
a fault of my own
because if I cannot find
a single treasure
in this beach
with this many sifters
I have made a mistake
I am not skilled enough
to find fortune

What I didn't know
was that there was
never any sand
in the first place
I was sifting
when I should have been
collecting that
waterfall