inheritence

I was the secret keeper-

even of things I did not know.

They gave me the keys,

to the doors that locked from the outside.

I was the watcher,

the listener,

who held

our family history

in my body

until it became

so dense,

so filled with silence,

that I lost my own

voice.

My skin kept the world at bay

and I let it thicken

and grow hard

outside

so that

the home

for my soul

was small,

and safe,

and silent,

within.

And then.

Existence,

my

beloved friend,

burst me open

heart-side to

outside,

raw,

unbounded,

fragile,

receptive.

My own heart

feeling for me,

seeing for me,

listening for me.

Free.

written February 2012