Always Learning

I didn’t lose a part of me,

I wasn’t so lucky this time.

My fingers walk along my skin,

A hidden roadmap to my being.

It’s there along my rib cage,

no warmth or pulse.

A reminder, a battle wound,

I give it respect for its determined permanence.

It jolts my heart with every graze and brush.

I look at where I was, a shell filled with pain,

shaken to the core beyond myself.

Hours, minutes, seconds,

my only medicine.

I’m strong.

I’m strong.

I’m strong.

The only mantra worth repeating.

It will be there at every junction,

It’s there along my rib cage,

but I know these streets,

I will soon learn a detour.