Poem – Shedding my Skin

Hi friends

This poem was scribbled down tonight, at the kitchen bench, while making dinner for the family.  (Sometimes its a balancing act between writing and responsibilities!)  This is for my friend Christine who is going through a time of transition, and who writes so wisely about transitioning from one season to the next.  (See her beautiful reflective post on Godspace today).

Shedding my Skin

I shed my skin
so easily, unconsciously,
until completely new
in several weeks.

While life, and its residue,
is not so easily shed.

Either because I won’t remove myself,
and step ahead.
Or because, its more comfortable
to stay stuck,

and dig in my heels instead.

The sun sets.
It does not wait for us to notice it,
or for an audience to watch its descent.
It is simply there,

in one breath.
And then gone again, in the next.

I think of the sun,
and the barren trees which lose their leaves,
and I see they share a secret
I’m still to get.

Life is a leap of faith,
from one brief moment, to the next.

So I shed my skin,
and I learn to let my heart lead me ahead.
The hill is beckoning,

and the dawn about to crest.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry