Living Tree Poetry

I am my best protector.
I know when I’m past my limits.
I know when I push beyond my strength.
I know when its seeping away.

I am my best defender.
I know the actions I fear.
I know the words I seek to deflect.
I know why the turtle has a shell.

I am my best encourager.
I know what lifts my face.
I know what soothes the shattered self.
I know how confidence is lost.

I am the shade on my right side.
I am the sun when cold enters in.
I am the one to talk truth to myself,
in a world which lies through its teeth.

I am the one who knows best what I need.
The lover to my soul and its treasure.
I know the conquering pain which enters
and the healing which arrives with relief.

I am my best deliverer.
I know as I’m thawing here as sea ice,
I know as I’m softening as glass under pressure
that I’m giving up in surrender.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
February 2019