She surveys the land –
a 40-year-old body trapped
between lushness and desolation.
Her scars, the stories of skirmishes.  

A six year old child mercilessly covered in pox –
her mother cooled and calmed the bout
with cotton balls and calamine kisses,
but itchy hands unearthed a solitary scab.  

Rage marred her next. At 23,
life with a sadist turned strife.
A rifle butt slammed against her temple.
She didn’t know how to fight back… yet.
The marking above her eye
a reminder never to surrender.  

Silver streaks flare across her hips and breasts –
a constant conflict with weight,
but the birth of her son at 28
stretched her beauty and confidence.  

Stitch lines along her leg hide titanium.
Her bionic ankle created at 35 when
a hiking trip in El Salvador turned quest.
Cold weather reminds her to give thanks
for machete wielding friends
who sacrificed trees, shirts, and sweat
to carry her to healing.  

The real damage lays unseen,
the infighting between mind and heart.
Her romantic, idealistic nature
in direct confrontation
with a cynical, negative world
surrounding her on all sides.

But she readies for an uprising,
no treason to be committed
against herself. 
Oohrah!