Gathering

Remember me?
I am you
then,
and you are me
now.

I'm safe here.
They're all gone.
In this frame, the backdrop behind me
disappears.

Your shadow isn't big enough anymore.
You keep putting more of us
behind you.
When there's nothing left of you,
where will we go?

I like it here.
I feel free again.
Everything of me I want to keep
is here.

Take us with you.
We answer the questions.
We fit the holes in your skin
that life falls through.

I thought I could be whole
by taking me apart.

I missed you.

Are you ashamed?

Come.

The child in the corner, awake from a nightmare,
afraid to open her eyes?

Yes.

The one in the middle alone, with nothing to hold on to?
The woman behind the door, hoping no one sees her?
The girl singing in silence, praying no one hears?

Yes. And the daughter bleeding rage,
the murderess rampant with revenge,
the thief with empty hands.
The liar, too, with the price she's paid, and the love she's won.

The lover forgotten,
the child with the story unbelieved,
the girl holding all her gifts untaken?

Yes, and even the harlot who's played her part
and gotten what she never wanted.

Come -- let's go together.

Welcome home.