You don’t know who sadness is.
You and anger are not on a first-name-basis.
You’ve never sat down,
and talked with embarrassment.
You shut hurt into a closet,
and stuff pain under the bed.
You don’t open the door,
when fear comes knocking,
and you changed your address,
so that guilt cannot find you.

You think you’re so clever-
that only happiness knows your name,
that confidence is your best pal.
You think you’ve tricked fate,
avoided the indignation of the world.

And maybe you have.
But in doing so,
you have eluded many other things.

You don’t know appreciation
-which comes from grief.
You don’t know calmness
-that comes from anger.
You don’t know devotion
-born from vulnerability.


Perhaps the most tragic of your losses
is the absence of love.
The beautiful parts of love
that come from knowing fear,
pain, anger, sadness, remorse,
and the other unpleasant colors of life.

I know love-
he is an old friend of mine.
He joins me and grief some days.
He comes to visit when cruelty has overstayed her welcome.
He even makes surprise visits, after anger
has left her destructive path.

To avoid the darkness might afford you
the comfort of escaping many of life’s unpleasantries,
But it will cost you.
The appreciation of
true joy
true peace
and true love.