surrender

Photo by Tanya Trofymchuk

Oh, my dear.
You have so much more power than you know.
You can pull the tidal waves towards your enemies,
or, you can will them away from shore.

And who are these enemies?
Are they fully formed,
illuminated
beings with glinting weapons
and snarling teeth?

How do you know what you know?

When I was a child,
the darkness terrified me.
When
abstract light broke through cracks
in waving curtains.
Revealing,
the otherwise,
hidden monsters lurking around my room.

Now,
we are older
and our fears from sleepy childhood shadows
follow us into the waking moments
of our lives.

How do we know what we know?

What if the enemies we perceive
are merely shadows?
What if
there are no enemies at all?

What might you do
with all that power
if you didn’t feel compelled
to slay shadow dragons?

How do you know what you know?

What if
the weapon you see in me
is my whole glimmering heart
loving you,
Just
exactly
as
you
are.