Onyx skin against the noon-day Sun. Bless me with this embrace.

Bronze and copper to course through your veinsHair of coal, black as ravenLiquid fossils flowing longer than the NileRubbies and sapphires inside your chambersAnd diamonds for pupils in almond set eyesBecause I love you

Catch fireflies in flight, crinkle grass under your toes and know that you are always beloved always beautiful .... a dream within a dream.

Since I can't have you tell me where I can find others like

the eyes want what the eyes see poor heart gets the blame.

Maybe the struggle is to keep us humble

everyday. Realizing the silence will have to be spoken. everyday. The lessons I teach myself and the lessons I teach others around me. "they can't read your silence dear.

WomanHow pliable she beEver-bending never-breakingWoman

There's pain on all levels and all colors of the human skin. Many of us wear it well. The rest of us that you don't see are the ones who never learned to wear pain well. Or who learned and somewhere along the way decided it no longer fits.The irony is the more beautiful we wear our pain, the more we fool ourselves and others thinking there is no pain.The message. A bit more love and grace for myself and for friends and colleagues especially the ones that "have it all together" so beautifully.