Must everything happen for a reason?

everything happens for a reason

you’ve heard that before, haven’t you?

but does it really?

is it possible that life simply occurs—

without cause or causation,
without reason or reasoning,
without promise or promising?

and is this something we may come to accept,
to believe,
to practice?

to remind ourselves there need not be a reason,
that not everything must occur as it is meant to,
that my suffering need not be a gift,
that it may simply be—

suffering.

and I can choose to view it as just that,
or I can choose to view it as a gift,
or a curse.

to not console, congratulate, or reprimand myself
for my own experience,
to simply allow it to be,
to grow,
to blossom within me,
without a reason to be.