skin (2020-2021)

 

Soft and smooth,
I glide over you    
tracing every inch
memorizing every line.

The scar from when you tore in two
an accident I can’t remember–
Cuts and bruises I didn’t know existed until they’d almost healed.

You are delicate and tough
memories of hard, lonely nights etched into the surface.
Words rejected by your forcefield,
protecting what’s underneath.
You are so malleable,
stretching and shrinking through thick and thin.
Wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, and wounds
cannot detract from the beauty you radiate.

You take care of me
no matter what I put you through.
You always heal
though the world constantly tries to tear you open again.

Pale brown,
too dark to matter,
yet not dark enough to fit in.
You stay youthful,
healthy and brilliant like a piece of sea glass,
tough yet altered by the tumultuous waves of life.

You protect me
holding me together,
like a fortress keeping the danger from seeping inside.

You are beauty.
You are strength.
You are incredible.