This poem arrived during a kind of coldness of spirit I was experiencing. Sometimes I can feel myself shut down, shut off, just like a light switch, when anger, doubt or disappointment come sneaking in to my life. Fortunately it’s usually a short-lived situation; but not always. The poem below is about those moments, the harder ones, that linger.

the diamond

one single shard
an icy sliver, slides
between my ribs
pierces flesh, bone
coming to rest
beside my heart

fixed, frozen, still;
there it lays
dormant and quiet,
like shrapnel
left behind inside
a new wound

so a small thing
can still cut deep
carve its way
down to the soul
and stay, make itself
a fresh home

though I cannot
see it, I feel well
it’s weight growing
heavy, sharp, true
so cold and bright–
a dark star burning

honed now, perfect
a coal crushed
by pressure, time
leaving it buried
shining, a diamond
born inside me