I Stood Still

You ran from me but I didn’t chase you

The moment your heart felt full a cloud of fear extinguished your joy

As your feet carried you through the woods

Fear took you far before you realized I wasn’t chasing you

I stood still

Grounding my roots into the soil

Splintering and snapping

Breaking and bending against the seasons then blooming

Painfully but continuously blooming

I stood still because the beauty I saw in you

The edges of your darkness

All contradictory natures of your being, I love

But each of those things are daggers to your gut

Where I see beauty

You only see thorns