Strange hosts

I am not the woman I used to be.

She is bruised and broken, as far as can be

I am bruised and broken, numb to the world

I am deep in the heart of longing for myself

Old, new, recognizable, unknown

Different. From what I am today.

She is a stranger

Borrowing my skin to fill her anxious purpose

She sometimes protects, sometimes hurts

Shielding me from pain, filling me with pain

I am a stranger to myself

To levity, to joy

I hope only for a while.