There’s no escape for me
from the debt I owe
to my past,
no self-satisfied slide away
from what I was cast in

To be truly free
I must go back
to what I walked away from,
must bring the liberation I have won
to my perception
of those I left behind

This is not a task for intellect
nor for alleged virtue I have earned.
I surrender it
to the great truth that lifts me —
if I am lifted,
so, too, must be we all.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 1, 2017