Stone In My Shoe

This poem is based on a

Mental illness called ‘OCD’ and

‘Scrupulosity’ One metaphoric

Definition is ‘Like a sharp

Stone or stabbing pain in

The shoe’

The stone in my shoe was

Small,

Hardly noticeable at all

How it got there I did not

Know,

Over time it grew and

Broke in two,

Maybe if I got another

Pair of shoes that would

Do,

Getting taller as I grew

My shoes got tighter

My feet began to fester,

The smooth stone became

Sharper causing pain,

Through life the stone

Crumbled into several

Stones building a wall,

Each building upon another

Until the strain was just

Too much,

In vain I tried to build this wall

My brain kept telling me this

Is enough but I refused the

Help that was offered,

It had no foundation

I had rejected the cornerstone*

Setting up my own system,

I began to hate the stones

I used and tried to remove

Them but the more I did

They seemed to increase

Then one day I felt buried

Beneath them

I had hidden behind this

Wall so long I could not find

A way out, I was trapped,

The stones wrapping about

Me with my calloused hands

And broken heart,

What would I ever do?

When a thought came to my

Mind,

If it weren’t for the stone in

All its imperfection causing

This duress that constantly

Happened,

I would not become refined

I would go through life thinking

I was fine,

But the stone in all its

Roughness had through fire

And flame been tested

I then had to to romance it

It became a polished stone!

A beautiful gem with a precious

Cornerstone as a sure foundation,

The prize of all my possessions!

*Book of Isaiah Chapter 28:16