because I love myself

it took my whole life to build a brick wall. 

i placed it one by one, a brick after another every time I felt uneasy that someone was knocking on my home that i so carefully built

that they were going to knock it down

in

one

blow 

i was scared of the big bad wolf 

that it would come one day and eat me 

that my fortress was not strong enough 

that i had built it out of straw 

but then you came and whispered through the cracks in the cement 

so quietly you whispered that I had to put my ear to the wall and listen to you sing songs to me 

i  removed one brick 

just one brick 

so i could simply hear your tune

it was a lovely tune 

slowly you took a brick

one after the other 

and spoke to me through the holes 

you looked at parts of me 

parts that the wall always protected 

and when we removed so many bricks 

that the wall collapsed 

I saw the big picture 

how I threw the bricks to the floor 

creating fragments that lacerated my skin so deeply that a pack wolves could smell me miles away

and because

I

love

myself 

I built my wall again

brick by brick