Stand!

I was the leader

Follow the leader! my teachers, my parents, my peers agreed

Up on my high horse, I was proud,

special,

supported, adored! ....

... haughty

I was pushed further, higher,  faster,

until I fell

Spiraling into an abyss

"The god has fallen, oh well it was nice while it lasted"

I looked down and understood:

It wasn't that my legs had failed me

It was that I had none to begin with

Then someone materialized

with iron bones

and faded scars from falling

It was possible? To stand again?

"Use your legs;

they are there. It's hard,

I understand,

but not impossible."

Indeed, it wasn't impossible

Slowly,

I fed them faith and courage,

and they grew beautiful, sulf-sufficient, strong

Iron, too

A few worshippers now return

I feel their hands intrude

But I don't need them

My newfound legs are determined

Because of someone who told me they were there