Wild and waste

I still smell like the last time. 

I should have known then.

You used to pour me out, I'd spill all over your hands. 

Keep me, babe. I'm yours. 

Now

It is becoming a wilderness I hope I never wander again. 

You shine

You may not be able to walk straight 

But your aim was always true.

Your heart was pure and open

And so warm inside. 

Your shy light is blinding

And it wasn't long before I caught fire. 

You made me shine too. 

Framed

Little windows placed on walls.

The moments were never lost on you.  

You wanted to hand him your world and this was the only way you knew how. On small bits of canvas. 

The creases in his face were birthed into this world for you. He watched your hands imagine more than there was. 

You gave him everything in living colour. Oils and acrylics and flesh. He took everything you gave and lifted it up. He built around it and made it safe and whole. 

He framed all your beauty. 

You didn't think you could

There was no lion left inside your heart. 

Nothing bold, beautiful, proud, or loud. 

There was a tired open gate of a round circus pen, empty dirt paddock, and that's about all. 

It was quiet. Not even a whisper of hurt. Not even a shadow of former glory. Had there even been any glory? No one talks about it. 

You didn't think anything else would ever live there. Just left that rusty gate hanging open. Nothing to keep in, nothing to keep out. Nothing to contain and nothing to protect. 

What wild thing would ever wander to such a place? What stunning beast would subject itself to captivity? Especially in a place like this. 

But when you didn't think you could, you found more. 

The Phoenix found you first. With a shriek into the lack it filled every corner you had forgotten. Wings folded, it came to rest in this place.

All you could do was watch. What is a lion compared to the Phoenix? What is mortality in the light of all time? 

And here you didn't think you could contain anything beautiful. But you can.

Because you left the gate open.

For once in your life

Do something brave.

Reach out and find a beating heart, wrap your fist around it and feel the heat. 

Lift it high, blood trailing over your forearms.

Breathe. 

Look her in the eyes and tell her you 

will

not

drop it.

Lift it higher.

Higher, over your head. 

Close your eyes. Grow two oaks, one on either side. Pull the oaks up from the ground, root them deep and stretch them high. Cause them to reach just below the clouds. 

The air is fresh, your lungs are clean. 

Coated in red iron beauty, hands lifted high, 

Your arms built this.