Just this one more line
Just this one more time
But I would have drowned
If you’d meant to change
If it were the day
Strength you should have found
Boundaries are most real
Boundaries helped me heal
Cross none sacred ground
Our story is not final, Yo
Our shame can take a seat
The last train car, in the back row
As Universe defeats
That rusted coupler is removed
By strength of warriors, we
Pain of ten lifetimes is soothed
Healed now, fruitful be
You loved him perfect
You protected his sorrow
You kept your bed pure
We, born strong, a known miracle, believed in our birthright
Demanded what we’d earned
Respect of our hearts
When wolves came around
We’d thought them our friend — having been made from the same dust and all
When their howling happened, tables turned, teeth exposed
We’d respond not in-kind, but with kindness
Hoping hindsight would cause us to laugh
How many more times is unclear
How long before hope would recede, who can know?
And so, we ate the Apple
Believed the serpent, absorbed the poison
Until at some future point, we’d bleed out and walk whole
In the afterlife
We ask, all the more demanding and kind
Please beware our now sharp teeth
If I close my eyes
Pasted smile upon my lips
Satan cannot see my tears
If I lock the door
Steal away to pray, midday
He won’t miss me
If in plain sight, I
Pretend an all’s-well walk
He won’t send a delegate my way
If I’m vulnerable
In my superpower song
Satan cannot sing along
Home and I need no directions
No machines or magic-makers
Deciding which road, route, by-way, or highway
Ought be my way
Or an illusory “our way”
Home and a good home
No improvements or additions needed
Accepting no half-hearted counteroffers, no contingencies
I am as is
The best there is
Thank you for this window now,
Of thin and vintage time.
The safehouse to set a spell,
The anchored birch, my lean-to.
That I’d be reminded
In these gusty days
There is still
The reaching skyward
And strength to see it.
Reach. Oh, please reach!
It’s your strength, your needfulness
That tells us, “Reach, too.”
LisaRosier.com 