EXPOSED
by Louise Gallagher

Exposed  
bare naked  limbs 
leafless  
hanging on to memory  
of a branch fallen 
against wind-worn trunk 
standing stalwart 
against time 
and weather battering 
limbs and breaking boughs 
made fragile by the wind  
blowing relentless 
through your branches 
sheltering the sap within 
that flows 
more slowly now 
with each passing season.  

I lean against your body 
scars and ridges harsh 
against my cheek. 
I too am facing
time’s relentless pull  
I whisper 
into the wrinkles etched 
upon your weathered skin. 
My body tells the same story 
of time passing 
of life lived 
sometimes walking 
with the wind 
sometimes against 
my limbs move, 
not as smoothly now, 
the bones more fragile 
able to break 
with one fall 
yet still I stand 
stalwart against time 
while inside 
the blood flows 
sluggish 
as I weather life’s journey 
leaving me exposed 
to each passing season. 

 
  Perhaps 
 ©2020 Louise Gallagher
  
 In a rush to make-meaning
 in all that has happened
 in all that has gone wrong
 or right
 in all that has been lost
 or gained
 I lose
 myself
 in the desperate struggle
 to not feel
 what I tell myself
 has been lost.
  
 Perhaps in my struggle
 to make it all
 make sense
 or have a purpose
 or fit into a box
 that only I can see
 I lose sight of
 all I cannot see.
  
 Perhaps, the meaning
 is in the experience.
  
 Perhaps, the making sense
 does not make sense.
  
 Perhaps, when I allow
 the purpose of everything
 to be the experience
 of everything
 without holding on
 to it all
 without fearing
 losing
 it all
 without judging it
 good or bad
 acceptable or unacceptable
 necessary or unnecessary
 I will find myself
 in that liminal space
 where all I have
 and all I am
 and all I know
 are nothing
 more than
 all I have to let go of.
  
 And, perhaps
 when I let go
 of naming
 all I have
 all I lost
 all I won
 all I know
 I will find myself
 in all I am.
  
 Perhaps then I will experience
 the all that I am
 as the most precious gift
 of all.