SELF SANCTUARY 

Realness.

It's within all of us.

Usually kept in a small box.

It's so loud and so silent.

From now until we were a child.

Such big contents inside that box, encompassed by such small words.

Thoughts.

Emotions.

Experiences.

They haven't been let out in a while.

Concealed with both isolation and a masked smile.

The sides of this box are bulging.

Don't touch it.

Don't handle it with care.

Just leave it there.

Worth only a quick acknowledgement or a judgmental stare.

It's leaking out,

all the things kept inside.

It can't help but seep out even though there's tape all around its sides.

Instead of grabbing the glue, what if I let them out to you?

Once the box is opened, there's no way it goes back in.

But we all have similar contents inside our boxes.

Love, laughter, pain, and sin.

Let the radicalization begin.

It's out there, it's all out there,

Now what will I do?

Nothing, because I'm human, not all that different from you.

Upon unleashing myself, I can now step into another's shoe.

Still feels like mine, just slightly customized to you.

I feel free and I feel seen,

Now that I'm outside of that box.

Taking a look inside and cutting off that lock.

When my box is more empty,

It is easier to bear.

Personal triumphs and despair is not so easily shared.

But there's more inside that box if you take a deeper look beyond life’s sinks and hooks.

There's the beauty of being real, accepting who we are.

We’re not the clothing, money, or car.

Character.

Growth.

Revolution.

It's really all we’ve got.

If being open is radical,

Here I am giving it my best shot.