Thank you to all bridge builders,
for my world was small,
I was cut off by where
the land had melted
or fallen off — however it was
that left me separate,
on my little floe,
the arcs of my thought
cut off from sharing
because so many no go zones
surrounded me

Thanks to the bridge builders,
now I can, if tentatively,
find the way to share my truth
without igniting someone else’s shame,
without triggering their anger
or their censure

And so my world gets larger
and my joys do too —
I feel the lift of this enhanced communion,
this openness of mind
that comes from how we now can see each other
clearer, more fully,
and we can range more freely
on what now is common ground.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 15, 2017