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