The needed touch

This fierceness is needed,

for to allow the stain

to fall on anyone,

to let it shame them,
to let it shape them,

is an injustice

that can’t be allowed

This tenderness is needed,

for the washing clean

must deftly leave

all natural color intact —

all of it needed

to form the spectrum

expressing the wholeness of life.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 5, 2020