Can’t you feel it

The creeping under your skin

That impending fear

The lurking of doom

The need to do…

No,

the need to feel something,

anything

It’s all there

Yet you deny it

Why?

 

Why do you claim you

are okay

When I know you aren’t

Why do you cover up

the scars

When I know they’re there

Why do you say they

make you

ugly,

unlovable,

feared,

hated…

 

It’s not true

Those are your stripes of honor

They each show

a battle…

No,

a war

You have overcome

 

Each one has a story,

and I want you tell me

every one of them

 

I want you to know

I feel the pain too

I’ve felt it since I was 12

I’ve been there too many

times to count

I have shared your pain

Some days I still feel it,

Feeling it swirl around you,

Envelope you,

Eat you whole.

You feel dead on the inside

Like your soul,

your very essence

has been beaten,

bruised,

mangled,

destroyed,

and that it can never be fixed

 

But it can

If you just let me in,

I want to help

I want to love you

Not the fake smile you

Not the “I’m okay” you

Not the unhappy,

but I’ll fake it you.

I want to love the real you

 

I don’t want you to hold back

Show me who you are

I promise I won’t flee

I won’t boo and hiss

I’ll stand by you

I’ll pull you out of the dark

I’ll love you at your best

And help you at your worst

I am here

I am here because…

I love you