This poem I wrote a few weeks ago with the help of AI was inspired by my IFS healing journey. If you like it, please let me know by commenting or shooting me an email at ForestBenedictLMFT@ForestBenedict.com. If you want to share it, please share it by using this blog link. Best wishes to us all as we find the courage to connect with ourselves, heal, and learn to live authentically.
The Invitation
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.”
Said Søren Kierkegaard, a wise shining star.
But hiding’s a habit when danger is near,
When you’ve learned to be small, unseen, and unclear.
You shrink and you shift and you cover your face,
You become what you must just to stay in your place.
You dodge and you duck, keep your feelings in jars,
You build yourself armor to hide all your scars.
You play hide-and-seek in a mask and disguise,
Keep truths locked away from your own searching eyes.
For hiding is safety, at least so it seems,
But the cost is your spirit, your laughter, your dreams.
Oh, the fear that you carry, the shame that you hold,
The stories of “less than” you’ve been ever told.
They spin in your heart, wrapping tight like vines,
Squeezing your voice till you give the same lines.
“Yes, I’m okay.”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“I’ll play your part”
“I’ll be who you find.”
But deep in your center, a small whisper speaks,
A brave little flame through the cracks and the leaks.
It says, “What if, what if, there’s a new way to grow,
Where you don’t have to hide or put on a show?”
What if the safety you seek far and wide
Can be built from within, so there’s no need to hide?
What if the walls made of “Shoulds” and “Suppose”
Could tumble and crumble with one brave heart that glows?
Imagine a world where your heart beats out loud,
Where you sing your own songs in a limitless crowd,
Where the stories you’re living are written by you,
And the choices you make are bold and are true.
Oh, it’s not without trembling, not without tears,
To unravel the fear and unweave all the years.
But courage grows stronger when given a chance,
To step past the shadows and into the dance.
For the parts that you buried and the pieces you hid,
The children inside you, the wondrous kids,
They’re waiting with patience, they’ve been waiting so long,
With colors and songs and with voices so strong.
You’ll meet them again, in your own time and way,
And when fear tries to stop you, you’ll ask it to stay —
For you’ve got some friends worth meeting, you’ll see,
Friends who’ve been waiting, who want to be free.
To be silly and serious, gentle and wild,
To be caring and curious, safe and defiled,
To laugh till you cry, to speak what is true,
To be nobody else but magnificently YOU.
So come take a step, take your mask off a bit,
And see what it’s like when you don’t have to fit.
Build safety inside you with words full of grace,
Make peace with your presence, your voice, and your face.
Connect with your stories, the tales your parts bring,
The joy and the pain, every tear, every dream.
And though it is scary, your soul’s worth the fight
To heal so you shine in your own sacred light.
So, dear one, I ask you: please open the door,
To the life that is calling, the one you’ll adore.
To the parts that are waiting, the wounds that need balm,
To the Self that’s been aching to stand up and calm.
Step out of despair and let healing begin,
Take the key to your heart, let your true Self walk in.
For beyond all the hurt and the fear that’s amassed
There’s a life full of hope, that’s your own life at last.
Come meet who you are, come dance, come play,
And let the true YOU have a voice every day.
–Forest Benedict, Author, Poet, Blogger, Therapist
This poem is © Forest Benedict, 2024. Reproduction or use without permission is prohibited.
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