Inside Out

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Everything in nature is bruised and worn. This is how each tree and hill gets its beauty. We are no different.

Inside Out

I was taken aback, when

joining a fitness club, at

the history of my body: a

rib removed, torn ligaments

in an ankle, torn muscle in a

knee, torn meniscus in the

other, arthritic thumbs, a

skull bone worn thin

by a tumor.

At first, I felt battered,

but smiled to realize that

I stand like a small cliff

worn full of holes in which

stray birds nest and I wake

with the dreams they have

while resting in me.

Each question carried

for a lifetime opens

like a hole worn in stone

through which the wind

finally sings.

A Question to Walk With: Begin to describe the history of your own body and how life has shaped you.