Be gentle with yourself (he said).
Not because you are so fragile,
but because you are so strong.
Not because you might break,
but because you have already broken.
You wrap your strength like iron
around a wounded heart.
You brace against pain as the muscle tears,
yet you have lived pain.
But fragile is not weak,
nor is strength indestructible.
So be light like a maple seed twirling on the wind;
float along like driftwood on the sea.
Because underneath the wind, underneath the sea,
the One Who Is moves you in a dance.
And you become a flower to the sun
held together by the tenderest thread.
©stephanie pepper, 2019
stephanie pepper 