The Center Now Holds
By Jane Tawel
April 1, 2019
I never had a center until now.
It took me many years to make
My center sometimes appear.
And now it often all a-sudden,
Shows up–
Solid, sure and unafraid.
It was sort of lurking long inside me,
Always a jiggly mess though;
Like a cake without a finished middle,
Still raw and sloshing left and right;
Unable to hold still enough for
Me to feel I even had
what other people easily used,
As nourishment or weaponry.
All my parts were always flying off in pieces.
Now sometimes I quietly sense in me
a firm center
Unbroken and unyielding.
But this annoys or terrifies you.
So many times, I just sit quietly holding my center
While it holds me.
But while I hold myself in place,
And you stare blankly, wonderingly
At what you sense
and is now un-hidden from even me,
I let you look at all the missing and shard-ed bits,
I once hurled your way.
And instead of pieces,
I often times feel peace.
My center now holds.
Jane Tawel 