The Concussion

It didn’t seem like a gift at the time,
Arriving, as it did, with a violent thrust,
With pain and bruises and such confusion.
It was a gift that took time to unwrap,
No scissors to snip past the knots tied tight.
When did I first glimpse its elusive worth?
Was it when I saw trees touching the sky?
When I lay, laughing, weak, with my daughter,
Also weak, and knew, now, her limits well?
Walked slow, meeting, greeting neighbors now friends;
Watched the dance of winged creatures, butterflies,
Bats, birds, found their empty eggshells,
Saw them teach their fluff-feathered child to fly?
Then? When did the ugly package transform?
Driven to patience, into a corner,
A corner that became like the famous
Narnian wardrobe, opening as it
Did into another world, a world that
Was waiting for me, just here, all the time.