There is something inside of
each of our
souls-

this desire
for the things
that will destroy
us.
We crave to
behave
in ways that leave
scars.

Battered and mauled,
we are in love
with the sickness.

Why do we find it
so inviting,
we can’t want
to turn away
from it?

Because to turn away
would be to deny ourselves
of who we are.

We were born this way-
rotting flesh and souls in
decay.

We will not admit
to the shame of it,
because we cannot let
our pride be wounded.

We do not accept
it as fault.

We embrace it because
we can’t change.

But the evidence
roars in the
background,
as you say that you are
deemed worthy.

The lie you
just told
broke a heart.

The substances from
yesterday
still affect your
loved ones today.

We are not meant
to hurt;
we were not made
to hurt each other.

I believe
in love.

I believe
in forces.

I believe that we all
were destined for
good things.

They say I am too old
for imaginary friends,
but this love
is not imaginary.

I can see
this love.

I can see it in smiling eyes.

I can see it in
random acts of kindness
that should not be so random.

Brothers and sisters,
we were made
for more than this world
has to offer.

I saw love;
I felt love.
Love followed me.

Love pulled me out of
my own head,
my own mess,
my own love for
my own sin.

Love knocked
the wind out of
me.

Love crushed
my old heart.

Love
let it shatter
to take what was inside
and make it
something better.

Love loved
me,
when I just didn’t
care.

Love waited
for me.
Love was always
there.

Love always
knew
that I would find
my way.

Love had its hand
on me
on even my darkest
day.

Love looked
at me
with heartbreak
it its eyes.

When my back was turned,
love never
passed by.

Love never
turned and left;
Love never
gave in.

Love hurt because I
wouldn’t let love in.

But love stayed and
love waited.

Love waited on
me.

Love led me
and taught me
how it feels to be
free.

Love saw in my
heart
that I was a wreck.

Love broke down my
bones
to build them back.

and this time,
they are stronger.

Love let me feel pain,
though it pained love too,
because in the end
love always knew...
that I would find love
from my shackled,
broken place,
where I would accept
love and accept
grace.

When my heart
was torn open,
bleeding out on
the ground-

When my soul was
crying out
for something,
unknown,

to fill the gaping
void in my life
left by the people
who couldn’t love
like love itself.

When my fears
consumed me,
and I thought I might
explode-

When I needed someone to
hear me-
just hear me-
so that I would not feel
so alone.

When the stars taunted me
and told me I was small,
that my life would never matter
to anyone at all.

When I was left in the dust and
so unfairly mistreated,
by people who were
just as lost
as me.

When the screaming of
voices that were
broken from
the love that they
never received
would ring in my ears,
I was lost.

When there were times that
life meant nothing
to me because
I had no reason
to live it.

Love found me and
love rescued me and
love waited to make sure
I understood that
love was not going anywhere and
love wanted me to know love and
that I could show love to
people who never really
knew the love that
found me.

They say that
I’m too old for
imaginary friends, but
love is
not so imaginary.

Love is felt and love
wants you back and
love never leaves you
wanting.

The love on
this earth
is tainted and
broken
and people hurt each other because
they were hurt too.

When people love they
try and give it their best go but
they are weary
and reluctant.

My heart longs for
a love deep enough that
no one is left dry.

A thirst that is
quenched.

No more hunger
pangs.

Because love showed
itself to me.

So let me love
even though I am
weak.

Let me try and have
that love
show through me.

I want to shine
so bright the sun
would feel inadequate,
because the brightness
of love
burns like a thousand
earthly suns.

Because the love that
found me
is the love that beats
in my heart,
traveling deeper
than my bones,
so I can feel it in
my core
when my heart pounds on.

This love courses
through my veins,
planting a hope
in me that I didn’t even know
could be possible.

Love was not found
in the pages of a book;
love was found
in the message
of a force that created
love’s meaning.

The pages of the book
hold the words of the
creator of the love that
found me but
love is in their meaning.

Love is in the force behind
the words that kiss the pages
of the book that is
mocked and made foolish,
the words twisting,
distorted and wrong,
so far from the place
where they started.
So far now that they
are only words and
the meaning they held
is lost.

Love itself was
mocked
and made foolish
by the ones love came
to rescue.

I will not mock love;
I will be proud to stand for
a love that will stand for me,
when I am no better
than any other
imperfect human being.

No one laughs at love when
love is shown in a smile,
or a word of comfort
to someone who is
in need.

But they laugh at love,
when love is shown
in the meaning behind the
words in a book
that only act to
convey the love that
could save them.

They say that I am
too old for imaginary friends,
and they mock the love
that lifted me above the ashes
and led me through
the pain of life.

When my life was wading in
open waters with
sharks circling beneath me
and feeling the fatigue
set in.

Pretty soon,
I would have been too tired
to even try
at all.

But love reached out into my heart
and gave me the strength to
keep wading,
with the knowledge that
the sharks can’t
touch me,
and one day I will
be out of the water and
onto dry land
where I will never have to swim
again.

They say I am too old for
imaginary friends,
but love is the realest thing I know
and
love saved me.