Shapes & Colors

Beauty’s rough edges

grate on skin like sandpaper

causing layers to shed

and flesh to become raw

But in the rawness

weakness is exposed

and in exposure does weakness

pull, twist, and morph

into the beginning of strength

In this fortress of barbed wire

sharp points meet smooth surfaces of body

drawing blood

as red as the inside of that orange

we tasted yesterday

That same day – when petals from a rose fell

leaving only the stem and its thorns

reminders of the past

indicators of the future

But a life without pain

is like a photograph of a rainbow taken in black and white

It offers no vibrance

Beauty ceases to exist

since it has no foil in ugliness

And so…I accept the ugly, the painful, the heart-wrenching

because that means that

goodness,

holiness,

and beauty exist too

and maybe

they are sometimes

one in the same

Maybe there is no spectrum

of beautiful and horrible

Maybe it is more like a palette

where colors bleed into one another

And only when you mix dark, murky colors

with bright, warming shades

do you create a new color

never before seen by any eye

and this color

becomes the color of your soul

an unspoken radiance

full of memories with invisible shapes

some sharp, others smooth

some bulbous, some angular

In this inner game of Tetris

we try to fit them like puzzle pieces

But I say, let the edges blur

and the shapes blend,

welcoming experience

as if it were a beverage you just imbibed

Drink up.