You do not have to do everything.
You do not need to spin
in ever increasing circles
in fear you might miss something.
Rather, you would remove the pressures
that would have you collide into yourself,
a ship set ever starboard.
Who is your taskmaster?
If you hear too strident a voice,
perhaps it is your own inner critic,
just amplified.
You are the captain of your route,
your own direction,
and you decide on the cargo.
So lighten,
lighten the load with shrugs,
not sighs.
Empathy goes a long way
in the healing of wounds,
but unless you wielded the knife,
no responsibility is warranted.
And self compassion is its own healer,
arriving to administer medicine
just when you need it.
Therefore you are free
to love and to forgive yourself for love
that hits the mark left of centre.
Those who need you
may never be able to acknowledge the gift
you bring just by loving,
nor your own heart,
in its rising and falling,
know rightly who owns it.
But, by putting your best broken step forward
by day’s light and by night,
you become the angel in disguise
for your battles,
and your most tender comforter.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
April 2023
Living Tree Poetry 