As I tear skin to set myself free,

you attach another layer of what

I cannot yet see. At least give me 

balm to ease the pain, to lessen the grief.

For what I tore was all I knew and all I loved.

Yet free at last, spring clears the past,

and in this new skin, I shall know and love,

until the time when winter dulls the light.

And again, I tear myself away. Until in time, 

spring’s new light will shine.

(Inspired by the movie Murina, a 2021 internationally co-produced drama film, directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, in her feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Kusijanović and Frank Graziano)