When I was 10 I got beat up
A lot
When you say “trust your body”
I’m not sure that it’s earned that trust
It was weak then
I fear it’s still weak now
It weeps at inconvenient moments
Leaking from the seams
Lashes out in rage
When calm would be the wiser course
Lusts at awkward times
And in the wrong direction
You call these reactions
Phenomena of mind
I feel quite clearly they arise from blood and bone
Visceral machinations
Your body, whipcord thin
Resilient yet unyielding
Has carried you through revolution
Worlds turned upside down
Across the sea
Bushwhacking a new life
Mine never faced such challenges and so remains
Squishy, and unformed
Without the reflex of survival
But please, try, if you can, to teach me trust
And I will hope my instincts prove correct….
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Powerful stuff. I still think, though, that it is our minds that let us down more than our bodies. Yes, it is our bodies that cry and rage and lust, but it is our minds that judge the crying, raging and lusting good or bad. It is also our minds that decide how to act on the crying, raging and lusting. And yet, of course, our bodies will all let us down in the end. Is this why we punish them so?
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteI understand that inability to trust oneself. Maybe that's the urge to keep pushing forward - to prove something to ourselves.