My love for you
Is not for your personality
For that is simply a mask
You learned to wear
An attempt to fit in
And blend into the crowd
We all have one
And some of them are sweet
And some of them are sour

No, my love for you
Is deeper than all that
My love is for your broken open heart
Your soul that longs to sing
Your essence that yearns to dance
And cry and grieve with joyous truth
It is for your innocence
That still lives
Despite the mask and the cover up
And the games and the hurt

My love for you is true
And I don’t need anything in return
Your own remembering is enough
And your remembering is mine
That which is the deepest in you
Is the same as that which is in me

I want your liberation
But I love you anyway
For I know who you are
Beneath the layers
And beyond the mask.

Image by Quang Nguyen vinh from Pixabay