Living Tree Poetry

What’s it like to walk naked?
What is it like to shed
all the mechanisms
that hitherto served us,
kept us enclosed?

What is it like to decide
not to hide,
like there is something to fear
in being ourselves,
something to protect,
to shield others from?

Yes, what is it like, to live?
Carrying a light that illuminates
the crevices, as though the shadows
harboured something of worth –
something with which, by being true
we might bring healing.

What if someone told us
its not our successes,
highlights,
the happiness that brings colour to our cheeks
that others need,
no matter how they might be inspired?

What if people needed permission to be true,
to show themselves as colours mixed,
feelings that flood out upon the floor,
as dancers twirling,
changing partners,
taking turns?

Oh, what’s it like to walk naked,
free,
to shed the things that make up
our face,
as makeup borrowed,
a façade to distort the truth?

What if we stood graciously
instead, tall, chin up?

What if?

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
May 2020