And some of us
are kept in our prisons
by the belief that
there’s no better place,
not having experienced one,
and seeing so many places
that look much worse

But the purifying rains
will wash us all –
wash out each grain
of our particular prison.
We may feel at first
that we, too, are washing away

But by degrees
the light rays that comprise us
will move with such conviction
that we will know
this is really us
and we are really here
and all the body memory of prison
will be gone.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 17,  2021