comfort

when I come home
with dark mascara streaks
down my cheeks
and say I need to be alone

he nods and
starts the kettle
and the laundry
and an episode of Friends

and I come down
to sit quietly by the fire
that glows in his chest
and gently
he warms me

I know that I am stunning
because your breath catches
every time you see me

your fingers hesitate
and eyes ask me
if it's okay to touch

it's okay

tragedy

and this is the tragedy:
men lock away their tenderness
while women hide their power.
both forgetting that,
bone and sinew,
we are sewn
out of one another

joy

unaltered joy
is wise in all of it's ways
fearless as a bird
landing on the thinnest branch.
simply settling down
as a feather lands
on the forest floor
-softly-

joy, unaltered
is kind, like a mother
wrapping you up in all of it's
warm, woolen energy
a hand knit cocoon
the with the gentlest
grays and blues

unaltered joy
is brave, like a seedling,
with all the courage required
to crack out of your shell
unfurl, like a flag,
and grow.