AT THE EDGE

Here I am at the edge,
unwelcome to my own life.
All the other faces, kind or indifferent, are turned away
so they don’t
have to see me, don’t have to feel
their own difference.
Most of the time, I stay in the cave,
this house I have made for myself in my heart.
I keep my passion here,
and my scars.
I don’t let anyone into the cave; ever.
If you come to the door, I will greet you with a smile
that fools even myself. I will bring you pretty things,
offer you tea and cookies.
Anything to make sure you are comfortable
here, in the doorway.
Deep in the ground, something is stirring;
did I use my own hands to cover them with
earth, or were they hidden for me?
Was it to keep myself safe, or for their protection from my own mad rage?
Stories are calling me,
Calling us,
Out of the cave…
To live, to step from the edge into the swirling fear,
To trust (is there any doubt?)
that the story will hold us.

ANWC Sr. High Rally. 2006
-Jessie Negropontes