Behind these barricades

Behind these barricades

My heart was bursting

With love and desire

And need and hunger and wanting

These expressions of my soul

Longing to take root in world and body

But long ago

Inhabiting this heart and this body

Cane to feel too risky

Too raw, too unsafe

And so I began to disconnect and protect

This heart, this fire, this longing

I followed teachings that spoke of the perils of desire

Not realising how much pure desire was subverted

And was the hunger of my deep soul

My true self

Seeking to take root and blossom

But now I am awakening to love

Beyond these prison walls of disconnection and fear

To the realisation of how we all struggle

And how so little of it was personal

How much of fear we share

And my longing to be and live and express

Runs free like a river

I feel its power which is my power

Which is my soul and myself

Which is my love

And I open my heart

To embrace it all