Hard Lesson to Learn

She wrote the rules on the bottoms of her shoes
on how her feet should tread,
and then followed them,
stepping one foot in front of the other,
finding how hard it is to go
when one follows the rules.

So she tried skipping, and hopping,
tried to run, tried to jump,
tried dancing, cartwheeling,
shuffling and high-stepping,
but nothing rid her of those
rules on her shoes.  One day,
she found sand, and felt

the slog of it, the painful drudge through miles of slough.
Then it occurred to her, if I take off my shoes,
perhaps my toes will grip better
and my legs will feel stronger
and body lighter.  And it was true,
she left her shoes with their rules
and felt sand between her toes,

felt sun on her face, listened to the waves crash
over the beach, and turned her eyes upward,
toward the light, as her feet felt happy
without those rules or those shoes,
and she learned to walk barefoot
throughout her life, lifting toes to arches
to heels and happily humming as she walked along.