Birth Mark

finger prints and photographs
connections with the past
place and time
memories
histories that are shared

isolation
keeps us hostage
when we don’t push out
of our cubby holes and dungeons
to see
sunlight
clouds
trees

the past we find
can’t box us in
nor hold us underground
when we discover the
guest, the Unexpected One
who shares our story, His story
we the captives free

the birth canal was scary
the womb so tight, too close
I fought to keep inside
my safety held me in
yet

stand I now in open air
this earth, she holds me loose
entombed no more
not dead am I but living
I am birthed
the shadow of the cross
has left its mark on me

finger prints and photographs
remind me who I am
but the cross it is that shapes me
beyond place and time to be the one I am
becoming