Jennifer’s Wisdom

(my sister’s words)

Who you are

is the same person

you’ve always been —

from birth, maybe before it

You’ve always been yourself —

you need not fear

that choice or circumstance

has made you less,

has trapped you into somewhere dull or damned,

or that by luck or narrow skill

you have avoided that so far

but that you might, at any moment, fall.

You are what you are,

and what you are is needed, blessed,

and is preserved, as pure as any element.

Nothing bad that’s come to you 

has ever been deserved,

nor can it dampen you — your essence

is not suppressed

This is your life

and you know how to live it,

This is your gift,

and you know how to give it.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 16, 2014

vessel by Jennifer McCurdy

image by Julius Friedman