Real

I got my first grasp at real love in tenth,

My teacher told how it happened to her.

At a time when I stuffed myths in my mind

Of what I thought love was, from songs they were.

“It came when I stopped listening to songs.”

What a shock it was to me at sixteen.

What about the boy who rights all my wrongs,

For a love that knocks down doors to be seen?

It was what I clung to in my abyss

Of abuse, manipulators, guilt fever.

A debt I had incurred when I was born.

What did he do to you twenty years past

To make you think your daughter deserves this?

Family bound by a broken heater

Matched until death finally do them part.

I sought someone to envelop my heart,

Closed eyes, no cares, just to take me away.

A screaming face towering above plays.

But you could not hide me from what’s out there,

It’s not your version of love, that suffers.

I see it in a friend’s embrace, a mall

Bathroom, “Listen, I’m here,” answered prayer,

Tearful laugh, Bravery of a brother.

Love knows no bounds, it encompasses all.

It appears on top of a grassy knoll

Darkness sets and lets me know she is here

The moon has known me all my life, and yet

I’m loved even at my worst, I am whole

On my own. Before the face disappears,

It tells me honesty I won’t forget.

What waits for me is innocent and pure

That sees me as equal, chooses to care.

It is patient, enough to reassure

I am enough, reminds me everywhere.