Tea & Poetry #2
Put the kettle on hun, it’s time for a brew.
The next installment in our ‘Tea & Poetry’ series is your chance to pause and take a time out from this weird world we’re living in. So rest a while in a sunny spot, mug in hand and take a read of these sumptuous words.
Identity
By Sophie Welton
A worldly quest for the brave adventurer
Happy to stand out in the crowd
A perilous journey for the shy and unsure
Preferring to hide from the world
Where one will step with curiosity and excitement, trying it on for size
The other with caution and anxieties rising, sheltered from any prying eyes
An ill fitting shirt from a charity shop
A hand me down from an older sibling
A borrowed coat from a friend
Hoping this is the one that fits
A dressing up box for our hearts desires
Fashionable ones, new seasons,
old favourites, or just out grown
Or just never did fit
I chose the ones that let me
slip by unnoticed
Learnt not to dig too deep
Cover the seams with tokens
I wore some with conviction
determination and grit
whilst the seams rubbed
Desperate for this one to fit
I kept wearing them
even as they began to rip
even as they hurt
and not just me
Fear of not fitting in
Weighed heavy
The unknown, like an abyss
Time ticking, layers getting too heavy
The demons I’d kept sleeping
Stretched and raised their heads
Dragged me kicking, screaming
Pushed me close to the edge
Each layer began unravelling
thread by thread
Plummeting
Each demon throws me a strip
From the many parts of fabric
A patchwork safety net appeared
Catching me
Just in time
Now I’m busy stitching
Finding fragments new and old
Some parts stick, others come and go
I’m learning to not hold them too tightly
Turns out the demons
Weren’t out to get me
And that there’s a little bit
Of a brave adventurer in me
After all.
