Broken

Life is hard.
We live in broken times.
Too often I feel broken too.
I tell myself it's okay,
I'll get through this.
Others have it much worse,
but it's still hard. 
Silently, picking up the pieces,
smiling with a brave face, 
I think my pain is as valid as yours, 
but I don't really believe it.
I come from a line of women,
who wore a brave face
and kept their private pain private,
so private you wouldn't know it existed at all.

My mother liked doing jigsaw puzzles.
She was good at it.
Maybe it was a way to convince herself
that her broken pieces could be put together
if she puzzled over them long enough.
I don't think she ever really figured that out.
She wasn't able to put her own puzzle together,
but she knew enough to hold her loved ones tight
when they were falling apart.
She took the broken pieces into her arms;
and enveloped in her unfailing embrace 
until the pain of being broken eased,
her love made the world right again.

~Elise Skidmore ©2025