The Gift

A friend gave me a gift
for my initiation ceremony.
A beautiful, large conch shell.
There was a condition.
If I stopped training with my teacher,
I needed to return the shell.
I didn’t think much of it at the time.
Six months later, I left the teacher.
One year later,
I am now returning the shell.
Mind registers this as annoying.
Leaving that teacher
was still part of my process.
I want to keep it.
But yet, it’s just a shell.
However, to my Body: it’s everything.
Something precious was given.
Then taken back.
It’s so much bigger than this shell.
What was it? When was it?
Who needs me to feel this?
Which ancestor was waiting for
this moment, when their burden
could finally be expressed?
Come Ancestor, use my body.
My entire being will burn
in this fire for you.
Because I am the Descendant
that knows how to FEEL.