After the barricades came down and the tides settled, she realised inner strength isn't about keeping people out and numbing out emotions. It is about realising the importance of being vulnerable and strong enough to handle the ripples and strong crashes. Inner strength is about feeling deeply for the things you care about and going out of your comfort zone so you can do what is right, even if no one else around you understands the values that you uphold. It's also about courage and bravery, taking a huge leap of faith and jumping into deep waters because you know how to swim. But also about becoming somebody who makes a difference or impact.

if you look up, you will see
the bright-eyed and
the wide-mouthed—
the interesting, the casual, the adored
glistening in the warm night
peered at through microscopes and
telescopes and stethoscopes
far and far away

we are so desperate to be close
close and close and
close enough to see the blemishes
the scarring and the peeling
effaced by obvious and biased inner-commentary
they’re just not as red or sore as mine
perhaps they were formed under
a different kind of sun

what does the unfamiliar heart say?
does it sound at all like mine?
will i ever escape the sloppy grasp of dullness?
will the world swallow me whole?
if i count the days on both hands
on toes, on eyelashes—
if i only eat green things and
read tattered books and
pretend that i don’t mind—will i ever
break the mirror?
will i find seven years of good luck
between the jagged edges?

to exist as a reflection
is to not exist at all
there are lonely, dark purple heavens
waiting for you to sever your longing gaze
to stop lying to yourself
to hop onto the back of the cow
and begin living somewhere beyond the moon—
to realize, with closed eyes
you belong to the sky

I never heard you, but I hear you.
I never held you, but I feel you.
I never knew you, but I love you.

love is like the sun
you adored it when it came
felt it on you while it stayed
and knew its value
only when it left.

she gave me her nudes
she was bare
and naked
and so out
and open
and i willingly
accepted it
because it wasnt the nudes
that showed her body
the physical aspects
that made her beautiful
it was the words
she didnt choose
and the spontaneity
that left her
either from her lips
or her fingers
or ink

she was as bare
as her nudes
and i accepted
her for her.