Don't glance at me with empty eyes,

I demand that double take from fiery irises directed at laugh lines and a squinty-eyed smile.

Radiating from this soul is the warmth within the sun and the glow from the moon that orbits and lulls the sea,

don't understimate this power when I've been raised to surive for a while.

From these tendrils of dark hair whisping around like they hold a lover's secret,

to the small toes crooked from mentally traveling for miles.

For the years spent with an aching sternum located above an empty heart,

I've learned to provoke, adore, caress this madness.

Maybe I am the forest fire that detroys and takes and ravages,

but replenishes into raw wilderness in a way to amaze.

Don't glance at me with empty eyes,

I love this ragged body and mind enough to set the world ablaze.