Unconditionally

She said one day
Oh perhaps today I will
release the feared past fearlessly
and love with a hope brighter than the sun
not because of what might return but instead with
a realization that what is done is done and past is past
and that which haunts me need not be my haunting inhibition
for I am truly free to fly as a bird with feathers strong with sweetness
that pours from every pore and dances upon the raindrops in every storm
walking on the waters of my imagination I paint a scene more grand each day
where I stand unafraid to learn the lessons that hurt me so deeply I was cut down
unable to forgive myself for loving too much and losing what I never really owned
and I have become willing to unconditionally love my own pretty face this time
without some meaningless validation that I never allowed to enter me
and yet craved to hear it fill my heart thinking it would bring joy
though I know in my wisdom that slides away from my grip
that this kind of craving never yields a fruitful crop
and while I know what I know that I know
I have carved this knife into my heart
each morning and night it seems
though now I chose to stop
and breath again like this
child in me unharmed
as sweet as honey
as warm as milk
as loving as me
loving myself
unconditionally


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Photo: Steve Hanks