purple-prose-828

It's hard

to put yourself out there,

bear, exposed;

it's scary to take off your coat,

remove the mat,

and hang on limb over the edge of a cliff,

Will I fall?

Will the branch break?

They taught us not to be loud

when something hurt.

To swallow the ache

like it was rude to mention.

We learned how to nod

while breaking.

How to laugh

with our ribs caving in.