A Common Myth- a poem
Elizabeth Moore
Inspired by this quote:
You don't peel away the layers of an onion to reveal an eventual core of onion-ness. The layers themselves are the onion. -Unknown
'Tis a common myth that digging is required
For one's life and layers to truly be admired.
Removing bit by painful bit of skin
To reveal a secret, hidden person within.
So we push and we probe and we fight to repair,
Trying to fix their mistakes but forget their despair.
Discarding the pieces to a forgotten hoard,
wondering when these scars will give way to the core.
Suddenly they're gone--no layers left to peel.
Those layers were scars still needing to heal.
The tiresome slabs you've cast on the floor?
That was their substance--the core you dug for.
Each piece was their childhood, their innocence, their pain;
It was their victories, their anxieties, their shame.
For all people possess their own story,
And scars are the pieces revealing that glory.
Though we fiercely desire to be spotless and clean,
The healing can't happen when our past is unseen.
Only when our layers are adored and accepted,
Do we have the courage to heal and be resurrected.
'Tis a common myth that digging is required
For one's life and layers to be admired.
But digging isn't always the means to the end;
It's the entire process that unearths a friend.