To the Healing Woman
by Dana Hannibal

Do not comment on a woman's body,
Do not say she looks great because she is thin.
Within her turmoil may lay,
For the body speaks to her of deep truths.
“You’ve lost weight; you look great!” they say.
When in reality she has lost herself.
“What have you been doing?” they ask.
When in reality the stress of life has overcome her.
Instead, see her for who she truly is: 
Pure and whole and alive.
“I see you.”
“You are strong.”
“You are beautiful.”
Those are the words of truth.
And when her curves return,
To naturally fill those once empty spaces of her body,
Be joyful with her for her body speaks:
“I am well; I am whole; I am loved.”
For woman is never to be lost forever, 
She is to be reborn again, 
Just as Earth, just as the stars, just as we are.