The same question comes up every time.
“If it was so bad, why did you stay?”
And, every time, the same answers.
“Because I didn’t have the strength.”
“Because I didn’t know I could.”
“Because I loved them.”
That’s why I stayed.
warm winds touch bare skin
softer when it is
divested of restraining fabrics
water kisses more gently
the flanks we bare
so willingly
similarly,
eyes see more clearly
into eyes
stripped of defenses
laid nude like
heroic marble
standing tall
and unafraid
Photo credit: Self portrait of a reclining Amelie Rives Chanler. (MSS 8925. Photograph by Petrina Jackson)
It eats at me
a gnawing thing
burrowing deep, it
settles into muscles
and organs.
I breathe it
into sentences
here
with you.
As I reveal it,
I feel it
breaking.
Teeth and jaws
melting
into bones
and sinew.
I’m fearlessly reborn.
Featured image from the Sleep of the Beloved series by Paul Schneggenburger.