Shell

Hiding in your shell

You do not forget

How wonderful life can be

But the cost of the living for you

Became far too much for a time

The world an unsafe place

Full of hostages

Who only wanted to steal something

Sad to see that this is the kind of view

That eclipsed a brighter vision

Of love and possibility

For didn’t someone wise once say

We see the world not as it is

But as we are

Or through the darkly filtered lens

Of past hurts abandonments and betrayals

But then again

Like all platitudes

This one has limits

And you know

That there are those of us who see

Farther and deeper than the surface

So in your shell

Where you retreated

To dream and hear the distant roar

Of the ocean’s heartbeat

More intently

As you rest

You find your heart too is still beating

And although the beating of that heart

That came to draw you back into life

Is now gone

You know you must find a way to live with the pain

And not remain forever

A permanent shell dweller

Finding a way

To venture out

And trust in life

And the outside world

Again