Thursday, July 9, 2015

Real

“Real isn't how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” (Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit)

It's the nourishment for which
we hunger most deeply,
the thirst we so passionately
long to have quenched.

The world is full of pretenders,
both those who know better
and are manipulating perception
to assuage their deepest fear,

as well as those who tread
gingerly through life,
afraid of knowing anyone
or anything – especially themselves –
at levels deeper than surface;

and most of us spend far too long
as apprentices to this deception
in one of its forms or another.

When we recognize it, especially
for the first time most intimately,
it can be as frightening
as our worst nightmares;
but once it's gone, the emptiness
becomes less anxiety and more ache.

The road toward Real
is a journey named Hope,
and the farther we navigate away
from the anxiety and toward the ache,
the more comfortable and courageous
we become in our own skin.

When you or I overtake
the other along this trail,
I pray we'll have the heart
to walk together for a story or three.



© 2015 Todd Jenkins

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