Worn Shoes

I remember my teacher told me

A story in 6 words

“For sale : baby shoes never worn”

I wondered how 6 words could evoke such emotion

An unimaginable loss conveyed into words

The miracle of life often taken for granted

Until you could walk a mile in someone else’s shoes

I looked around the class

We were all in uniforms

Shoes were the last statement of choice

Are we wired to look for difference

To hate what is out of the norm

The brand was more important than the function

The price was a status symbol

Each crease a decrease in value

The pressure to keep in style

Fear someone would make a joke

What if “what are those” were all I owned

It’s funny we flexed money we never owned

The girl I sat next to lied

talked about the expense of her shoes

It’s sad I didn’t know she was in pain

Until after she died

It put things in perspective

I cared too much about fitting in

But it wasn’t a cinderella story

Even if tried my hardest to squeeze

The shoes wasn’t in my size

My bare sole on the ground

In the end it didn’t matter what shoes you wear

Because when come into my house

Please can you remove your shoes

By Rachel Gibson