We may look and find the place
where fear was painted
up in the mauve underside of your scales,
making your protection prickle,
making you uneasy underneath

We will hold you so gently
as we rinse you clean,
all of that pigment
making it take a long time
till the water runs clear

You will feel it then,
the knitting together — yourself
with yourself, the relief
of the new clean place,
the integration, now that there is no foreign substance,
the power rallying within

You can rest now
and let yourself absorb
what it is to be fully you.
You’ll reach out open
to make the true connection,
the flash through you
and us
that lights the land.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 23, 2020