into what we’re supposed to be. It might
be early. It might be late. It might be after
thirty years of failing at a misguided way.
Or the very first time we dare to shed
our mental skin and touch the world.~ 

When we dare
to shed our mental skin
and touch the world,
All is open and all is 
such a nearness…

And it looks like daffodils given to a first crush,
like a love letter written with tumbling haste;
And it feels like a knock on the door,
like a thousand sighs in flight;
And it tastes of shame and honesty,
of an herb that heals from the inside out;
And it smells of sun dried sheets,
of soup kitchens and church. 
And it sounds like a man unafraid to die,
like the inward arcing contours of  poetry .

When we shed our mental skin and dare
to touch the world, we get a sense,
enough to sustain us,
of what, oh glory,  it will be,
at Home, at last, all embracing.

—Kimberly M. King, RSCJ