I’m no longer seeking validation from others
to know that I exist in the outside world.
I refuse to be controlled by what others have
to say about me.  I savor my own acceptance,
enough to know that I’m more than loved beyond
the depths of reality, beyond the seas of time
and rhymes, smiling at the handsomeness facing me,
how I shimmer like a collection of diamonds, rubies,
and emeralds, how my eyes hold a starbright fire
inside of them, so spellbinding like the midnight
Christmas lights glittering through the downtown
streets where caroler’s sing jubilant songs to hum
to all night long.  I can walk a million miles
under the summer sky, feel flashing sparks
of love sting my skin, watch the sleepy trees rise
to greet their leaves, the bluebirds soaring above
my head, my heart melting into a puddle of phenomenal
reflections of rich depictions as I take in the sun’s
grandeur.  I can breathe in the passionate notes
flowing through the magnificent landscape,
the rose garden nearby so delightful, the chiseled
highways so inviting, the mountains in the distance
so beautifully made, the green grass so dazzling
and everlasting, this oneness I can’t deny, these feelings
that make me want to lay down on the soft ground
and never get up, let the fragrant smell capture
my essence, let the stray dogs running through the
fields come to me and nuzzle my cheeks, let my hands
rub their silky, smooth fur, marvel at their brown,
golden, and hazel eyes, fall in love with their existence,
as they rest on my chest, my soul satisfied.