My Shoes

While this may, at first, seem like a strange little poem ... please keep reading.  It is deep ... and heartfelt.

A Pair of Shoes

I am wearing a pair of shoes.

They are ugly shoes.

Uncomfortable shoes.

I hate my shoes.

Each day I wear them, 

and each day I wish 

I had another pair.

Some days ... 

my shoes hurt so bad

that I do not think ...

I can take ...

another step.

Yet ... I continue to wear them.

I get funny looks 

for wearing these shoes.

I can tell in others eyes 

that they are glad 

they are my shoes 

and not theirs.

They never talk about my shoes.

To learn how awful my shoes are

might make them uncomfortable.

To truly understand these shoes

you must walk in them.

But, once you put them on, 

you can never take them off.

I now realize that I am not the 

only one who wears these shoes.

There are many pairs in this world.

Some women ache daily 

as they try and walk in them.

Some have learned how to walk in them

so they don't hurt quite as much.

Some have worn the shoes so long

that days will go by before they

think about how much they hurt.

No woman deserves to wear these shoes.

Yet ... because of these shoes,

I am a stronger woman.

These shoes have given me

the strength to face anything.

They have made me who I am.

I will forever walk in the shoes

of a woman 

who had to disrupt her adoption

in order to protect 

the other children in her home.

* Author Unknown *