Lest We Forget

Fear

Heart racing, churning, tight,

Like the panicked fluttering of a butterfly

Trapped in strange hands.

Blindly spinning and whirling.

 Breathe ...

Slowly ...

Gently ...

Deeply ...

Breathe and sit in silence.

The hands open and 

We learn together.

Mindfulness

Glaring reflections off the laminated posters

Talcum like grey sprinkles of dust on the warm wooden table

Slightly shabby and well-loved black patent leather shoes

A neat pile of notepad, black pen and pink glasses case

Gentle twinkling blue eyes in a soft round face

The droning hum of the air conditioner

Fidgeting bodies

Creaking chairs

The murmur of a car somewhere outside

A child’s excited voice telling a story

My breath

The knot of anxiety in my chest

The firmness of the chair against the back of my body

Shoes cradling my feet

The cool air as I breathe in

My hands resting in my lap

A Conversation

I enter our conversation tentatively

Listening and trying so hard to understand.

And then I realise I am lost in your words,

As if in a maze,

I have lost my sense of direction in your half-formed thoughts and sentences.

Ideas and suggestions and maybes and shoulds and what-ifs swirl around me

As if in a fog, I am confused,

And now...

I have lost my own words.

Shyness binding my heart and my words,

Tightening,

Squeezing,

Numbing.

Turning away, looking down and back

A tear gently escapes.