Love knocks 

on your front door. 

He is radiating a light that floods through your windows. 

You shut your blinds and pretend you are not home. 

Living in the dark has taught you to hide. 

Living in the dark 

has taught you to hide… well. 

You have survived by tucking your flaws in your pants. 

Ironing them and folding them under your coat. 

In the rare occasion that they evade your fabric, 

you persecute yourself in private. 

You persecute yourself all along. 

You crawl over flaming coals 

until every inch of you blisters 

with shame. 

You skydive without parachutes  

and belly flop into the ocean. 

The smack and currents  

that parted your hair 

and divided your members 

couldn’t cut your issues from your soul.  

You gather your pieces and go home 

to hide again. 

The truth is 

you do not have to be perfect to be embraced. 

You only have to be 

and learn the lessons as they come. 

If you stumble, have the courage to not shove yourself lower 

before you rise. 

Tell me about your flaws and I surely will tell you mine. 

Meanwhile the world spins, 

whether we accept ourselves or not. 

Meanwhile, Love  

places packages of joy and grace on your stoop. 

He knocks on your door again  

before sitting on your porch swing. 

He will never force you to let him in. 

Whoever you are, no matter how chipped, 

He longs to blanket you and offer you safety. 

His light will never expose you without covering you. 

He calls to you like the blazing sun, intense and exciting- 

over and over announcing your true place in the family of things.