Beautiful

Beautiful woman
Jagged roads met your feet for so long
Your soles now swallow pain
Like breathing air

Words like whips
Beat you down for so long
They became infused into your flesh
Ugly, fat, skinny, dirty, unworthy, weak

You believed in those words
That nestled between wounds they inflicted
Allowed them to be entombed in scars

These words infected you
Like poisonous toxins
So deep in your veins
That you believe all my "you are beautifuls"
Can't be true

You see them on you like prison bars
Yet they are phantoms
Unreal
Daunting myths you were conditioned to believe

You hold them up like shields
When good vibes from honest lips
Acknowledge the God in you

When I offer you flowers in words
Like beautiful, queen, goddess
You shred them all into love me nots

The hearts of those that see your light
Grow cold when their veneration
At you, their altar, is rejected

I sit by
Watching you love-hate the ugly
Making false gods of derogatory lies

I sit by
Because it is your elegance to acknowledge
The dirty words that cling to you
Are your scales to shed
To un-see

You don't need a shining knight to save you
You don't need a woman or man
To pull you out from darkness
No one can
Only you

You already have sword in hand
You are already all in all
Most high, most powerful

The only time "beautiful"
Will be the crown you wear
Is when you place it on your head

Until then
I wait
Hoping my words spark flame in you

Until then I offer... beautiful
At your feet
In your ears
With my touch
And wait
Until you know
You are beautiful