After the Mistake

Image credit: this is a collage I made in response to a prompt from my friend Tamara on giving ourselves permission to exist. My favorite part is the anteater trailing after the leg of the park ranger.

After the Mistake

"Be Ground.
Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up
where you are." - Rumi

You feel the maw of emptiness in your belly,
the spike of adrenaline, the rush of heat to your cheeks.
She was gracious, and patient. But still you ache.
Then you remember the words of your teacher –
how we must be loved in our mistakes for love to be complete.
And it's then you know: that the you who never
wants to let anyone down or hurt another must bow
to your human earth. There's a power in being
the one who was wronged, the one who chooses to forgive
and let go. It's a different feeling to be the one on the bottom,
looking up and lying low. Today you understand
that this is also a kind of power, a hopeful release –
but it only arises in failure. You didn't realize how hard
you were working, upholding an image of yourself as good,
until you were opened by the storm of your mistake.
You crumble like the wet earth, like the dark
brown soil that's been softened by two days
of steady rain. You fall in relief onto the solid,
steady ground of your being. You're soft now,
and the mercy can finally soak in.

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With a grateful heart, Karly