Walk barefoot

An ode to freedom from confinement.

Oh my feet, how I have domesticated you.

Your great toes turned inward,
Your small toes tucked under
Through years of constraint,
Your skin, so soft and smooth,
Perfectly held in the safest of prisons
With rare tastes of a wilder freedom.

At first, recoiling from each sting,
Each scratch,
Each hard edge,
You retreated to the cushioning warmth of socks and shoes.

But now, gently, tenderly,
I take you out into the world,
Letting you touch the earth,
Whispering with each footstep:

“This is what you are made for.”

Walking the wild edge