Though you may carry your shame
in your posture,
though you may exude
the helpless unhappiness
that shows you feel
your body has not been your friend,
though you feel bullied
by its insistence on exposing
your ungainly softness,
making you a target for rejection

Though you have also hidden
behind your flesh,
made it a fortress
behind which you hope
to be invisible,
You can’t hide your glorious light

You are a marvel —
your sensitivity, your fine desires,
your tender hopes, your latent
tendrils of affection
are intricate and precious,
and if the world isn’t worthy
of your gifts,
it still needs them
and will be profoundly liberated
as you set yourself free.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 4, 2015