Bones

I’ve lived
with these worn out beliefs
for so long
that I don’t even
notice them.
They’ve just settled
in my bones.

Like an old pair of shoes
that have conformed,
deformed
to fit my feet,
they are comfortable,
in their way,
but they make my hips
and knees
ache.

And lately,
there is an uneasiness
I feel when I wake
in the middle of the night,
as if something
deep in my psyche
is squirming,
as if my inner world
is shifting
in ways I cannot yet
attach to words.

Reach.
Stretch.
Awareness will come.
Words will come.
Change will come.
I can feel it
in my bones.

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith