for a friend who hates her dark side

you were not born a butterfly or a daisy. you were born at the top of the food chain, and innocence isn’t an option.

you don’t get to be perfect. you don’t get to be pure. you don’t get to live in a world where everything you do is righteous and respectable. that’s not this world. and maybe not even the next.

but along with your opposable thumbs you were given the ability to reason. you were granted the capacity to see into the pool of human experience and, from the very tip of your finger, drop a bit of your Self into that place where darkness reigns. your Self, your beautiful Self falls into the blackness where greed, ignorance and cruelty swirl. and, for a tiny moment, the ripples of your being – your wisdom, your awareness and your light expand in circles, stirring the waters, creating a space for all that’s good in the world. and then, when the ripples fade and the surface settles, the blackness returns and in it is your own reflection.

so, what are you then? are you merely an insignificant drop in the human experience? or does everything you do carry such weight that you cannot step carelessly, even for a day?

are you part of that great spiral of good and evil, black and white, stars and darkness?

yes.

and to really live in this world, you have to get right with the wrong things you do. they are only a part of the whole. they are the reason you do good. they are the mirror for your righteousness.

be bad sometimes, woman. and then be really good. and then, just be.

and when everything settles and you think that all is lost in darkness, your beauty, having reached the farthest shore, will come rippling back to you.