Living Tree Poetry

I can hear you cheering
before I even reach your feet.
You will not let me enter your presence
with blood on my hands,
guilt in my face.

I can hear you say,
‘lift your head’.
That anyone who comes to you
you’ve already pronounced
clean, whole.

And in the shadow of your love, I feel,
even before I take your hand,
that I am as you see me,
when I’ve dropped all the burdens,
vestiges of shame.

And stand to my full height,
complete again.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
October 2020