What Is Meant for You Cannot Miss You

To love someone who is not ready for you

Is to drag a man who does not know how to swim

Into the deepest part of the ocean

(Do not drown another out of loneliness)

Is Your Love for Yourself Conditional?

I never needed you to be perfect. I needed you to be yourself. To not bury the broken bits of you beneath a smile, or look for the glue to your pieces in the heart of another. It’s a terrible thing, really, to love yourself conditionally. To only allow the feeling of joy in when you have met your own standards. Here’s the unfiltered truth: you’re never going to be perfect, nor will you find a person who is perfect. Perfect is an idea we tell ourselves that exists in the future. You can always become stronger, smarter, richer, more successful, more beautiful. So when does it end? When do you decide you’re worthy of your own unconditional love? No one is ever ready for anything, but if you are to truly experience the world within your one precious life, you’d better decide to open your heart and let each moment take your breath away. You can get to anywhere you want to be from where you’re standing, but can’t you see that where you’re standing is already beautiful?

Holding Space

The hard shell of every person can be cracked open

Through a gentle ear

I have found listening to be

The most potent form of medicine

Codependency

He left breadcrumbs that my starving heart

Pretended were an exquisite entrée

He knew if he left a little at a time

I would stay from fear of having nothing at all

Only when I began to nourish myself

Would I no longer accept his scraps

Hollow Nectar

Honey may drip from his lips when he speaks

Drawing you in with the promise of nectar so sweet

My queen, have you forgotten that

You are the flower that creates the life he seeks?

Do not settle for beautifully woven words

That mask the hollowness underneath

There are others who will value the love that you give

And know how to pollinate a flower

Whose value extends beyond fleeting moments of bliss

One

When people ask me where I am from

I always reply, “Earth”

I do not separate myself

Based on invisible lines drawn in dirt

I celebrate diversity

But do not let it divide

We’re all students in life’s university

And bleed the same color inside

Stillness

I’m always looking for quiet places where the chaotic dance of the world halts and in stillness I hear nothing but the sound of my own breath. I feel the muddy earth beneath my feet and the soft drum of a heart so alive beating in my chest. Time stretches as I become comfortable with space. That’s the key—not to fill yourself with what is not meant for you out of a fear of emptiness. I wonder how we keep that silence within, or if we’re meant to let go and join the chaotic dance.