The heart opens and closes.
Everything made to contract, and then release.
How we embrace, and then step back,
as though somewhere inside is a self to safeguard.
Although in the moment
we are ready to lose it.
The body is an island,
and we want and want again.
And each are a sea
breaking upon each other’s shores.
I am always on a turning tide,
coming, going.
Readying myself again.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
October 2020