There Comes a Time to Set Down the Shield

A poem on healing.

(Image: JPlenio, Pixabay)

There comes a time
to set down the shield —
the perfect way
you learned
to self-protect,
now ready to move
beyond
unraveling the story
of each unique scar.

Set down the shield.
Tend the wound,
give love
even from the place
where love wasn’t given.
Do this true work,
holding places
to heal,
becoming more whole
in who you are.

Clearing the debris,
find forgiveness
below the grief.
Uncover quiet
center here,
the kind you find
when the fight has ended.

Tomorrow the light will shine —
let it into each nook,
finding you now
open
beneath the defense
kneel here,
practice devotion
to each vision of wholeness
every day
making space,
now free
to hold this all.

✾