Liberated

Though you may carry your shame

in your posture,

though you may exude

the helpless unhappiness

that shows you feel

your body has not been your friend,

though you feel bullied

by its insistence on exposing

your ungainly softness,

making you a target for rejection

Though you have also hidden

behind your flesh,

made it a fortress

behind which you hope

to be invisible,

You can’t hide your glorious light

You are a marvel —

your sensitivity, your fine desires,

your tender hopes, your latent

tendrils of affection

are intricate and precious,

and if the world isn’t worthy

of your gifts,

it still needs them

and will be profoundly liberated

as you set yourself free.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 4, 2015