Love yourself
The crazy, unforgiving self
Twisting things around and whisking off
Into obtuse fantasies
The wrinkled and scarred skin
The imperfect body that bears
Witness of your struggles
Carries you throughout hour and day
The weight of your sorrows and joy
And into the dust and dawn
The pain carved into your wrists
And subtle melancholy weaved in those eyes

Love yourself
The silly self that cannot conform
Sticking out like a sore thumb in a crowd
And fighting to camouflage your colours
The impulse to charge with your emotions
And the self with no practical ambition

Love the gasping conflicts in your head
That never gives the peace you yearn
Love the lack of esteem as if
You’re good for nothing
And the sudden splurges on you
As if to compensate for something
With anything and anyone willing to
Distract the tearful agony and angst
Willing to love the ugly you

Well years will go on and time
Will wrap you in his grip of vice
The youth will melt away into
Paper thin figures no more than shadows
And history and faded ink
And you are nothing more than what is
The wind that howls and becomes

Nothing