Those haunted spirits of the past shared your tenement life with other, sorrier days passed; be unashamed.

We are all borne, at least once, through events beyond us.

Should you allow us to see your worst failures, we promise not to lock their memory away in closed, pitiless hearts.

Boldly display your most agonizing moments of doubt, timidly lived, having only survived by way of cowardice and guile.

For what seemed ages you held up your fears like a battle shield, broke the siege of your uncertainty with a most distinguished lack of elegance.

Those moments, won or lost, fascinate us.

You have become the least common denominator of humanity, a human singularity of sorts; decisively unique, un-duplicated.

Peacocks seem drab perched beside your bright feathers.

Your guileless simplicity lends grace to a listless world fixated on flash, image, and decorum.

The renowned restauranteur often fails to recognize that

his novice chef in the making is washing the pots and pans.

Often, the arrival of one who is so genuine and substantial

is ignored, only later to be loudly proclaimed.

The humblest of lives sometimes transcend all others.

Let us feel your trembling heart shake down

the highest mountains.

May its pounding split open the sleepy earth.

Wake the dead trapped in their boring, hopeless dimension.

Vibrate the air with your warm breath’s steady syncopation.

Allow us to trace your footfalls, to endure your cuts and bruises,

absorb the pain as your feet tear open, as together we

walk bare footed over the remnants of your broken dreams.

Let us watch you as if for the first time,

embrace the skies so sweetly

that tears fall from happy angels’ eyes,

knowing that they are loved beyond measure.