On Brambles and Self-Compassion

Meandering toward

The forbidden

Inner landscape

I pause

For a moment

Ensnared by

A thicket of brambles

I did not anticipate

Tangled in a false narrative

Of my own design

I feel the prick

And begin to bleed

My body responds

“Run away and hide”

Instead

I say

Gently

“Stay - and do not be afraid”

Now in repose

I remember

My knowing

Slowly, I begin to

Weave my way out

Of this tangle

I co-created

Undoing the damage

One braid of self-compassion

At a time