What? I Write Poetry?

This is a poem I've performed a couple of times recently, to fairly good reviews :). This post is for everyone who has heard it and wants a copy, and for anyone else who can read.  So yes, this is for quite a broad audience.

Feel free to pass it around to whoever, I don't care if you give credit to me or not. I'm not important enough yet to ask for royalties on anything.





Do you realize

You're worth more than the moon,
 Than vast deserts of dunes, than the blossoms in June?
 Do you know you're more important than the skies,
 The wolf when it cries, the lark when it flies?
 You're more majestic than the ocean,
 More authentic than the motion of the wind,
 And you are a masterpiece

Do you realize you're worth more than the earth?
 Love has followed you since before your birth,
 When your Creator chose to give you worth
 And masterfully craft you - beautifully, wonderfully

Child, you don't carry yourself like a work of art
 Your heart falls apart at the start of each day
 When you glance in the mirror
 And, to your dismay, you're not perfect?

Cut yourself some slack
 I can see you don't lack
 Merciless eyes that criticize
 Each fault, flip, flab, fang, fart, and flaw
 That aren't supposed to feature
 On a Covergirl teenage creature
 And as you slump through the world
 Saying "Woe is me",
 You close your eyes to possibility
 Assuming, "No one could ever appreciate me",
 And we watch as you slowly disintegrate

I know I shouldn't offer help,
 But darling, you seem to be deflating yourself
 You're like a walking piñata with nothing inside
 And I don't think you realize

Then, one Friday night,
 You wandered the streets looking for something new
 And a certain fellow took a liking to you
 He had sly brown eyes and a daring smile,
 And you thought, hey, this should distract me for a while
 So you followed
And as you took that first step, you had trust in your eyes
 The look of someone deceived by showers of lies
 But his words - his charming, alarming, disarmingly bold words -
 Were like water to your love-parched soul
 And oh, he drenched you

So you came home late, all sopping wet,
 Way past your curfew and your mom's upset
 But you can't even heart her, you're in absolute bliss
 Your entire life has been leading to this!
 And she couldn't possibly understand

Flashback
 To a sophomore romance, with parachute pants and a high school dance
 Lights getting dim, room getting hazy, one girl getting crazy
 And one boy who can move like Patrick Swayze
 Oh, baby
 Trust me, your mom understands

Flash forward
 To an outburst of words and miscommunications
 A foundational crack in the already fragile relations
 Of daughter to mother, with violent retaliations
 And honestly, you had unfair expectations
 Of how long and how much and how strong the patience
 Of a mother is when watching her baby destroy herself
 Innocence receding inch by heart-wrenching inch

And that one interaction, that's just the start
 In the following months you perfected the art
 Of slowly crushing your mother's heart
 You lash out at her whenever there's pain
 And you try to relieve it by going insane each Saturday night
 And all these mind games
 Add up to your, on your knees, feeling nothing but shame
 And darling, you can blame your broken heart on a man,
 But it began with a love that you didn't understand

You'd heard stories of love, but you wanted to feel
 So you gave yourself to this guy, and all he did was steal
 Your virginity
 He didn't give you his heart, he just left you in his dust
 And you two weren't in love, you were only in lust
 And a word of advice:
 Don't ever give your heart to a guy who can't keep his pants on

Do you realize
 You're worth more than the stars?
 More than galaxies beyond what man will ever find?
 You have potential, you have life, you were made one-of-a-kind
And you are loved, more than you will ever be able to comprehend

You throw love around like dirty laundry
But you're blind to all that love could be
 Love makes you whole where you have holes
 Love lets you know that you are known
 Love holds your hand when you're in fear
 Love won't let you disappear
 Love makes you strong and powerful and beautiful and new
 Love makes you shine and overcome and be the perfect you
 You'll be satisfied in love that's untainted and true
 And He'll create in you the masterpiece He's always wanted to

If you will just realize