Go ahead and take it down –
however proud of it you may have been,
however much you thought you needed it

Go ahead and take it down,
though you have counted it as your own,
like a tattoo, or something deeply etched

It may have markings of your status,
high or low, or what you’ve earned,
it may be tied up in how others see you,
but go ahead and take it down

Old tatters or a rich brocade,
the colors and the tallies of the teams you played,
the records of your triumphs and mistakes you’ve made –
you’ll be much freer when you take it down

The shroud removed, the light comes streaming in,
you feel the air anew, and you can breathe again,
as life unlimited fills up the waiting plain
at every place the shroud is taken down.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 15, 2021