Paul in a Mirror Brightly

This spiteful world abated,

Its jagged cruelty and harsh laughter,

The icy stares and sullen silences,

Its hardness and hate

All that once tormented

Overcome, replaced

With your soft touch

That pierces and pleads.

Say goodbye to your hard walls

And memories of the torment

When you were young.

The tricks and blows and dirty names,

The last to be chosen on the playground,

Tears bitterly wept in those sleepless nights,

The good night kisses that ended when you were small.

For you did not know

The joy of a gentle voice,

Your life

Lived for so many years

In a wilderness

Of hate.

But then I met you,

The two of us battered and broken,

Hope, even distant, beckoning where pain once ruled,

The feel of your skin beneath my tender hands,

The soft touch of your lips upon mine.

Say hello to hope and the fastness of love,

Embracing the alternative to lonely and alone.

For we have known the hard and heartless

And discovered in one another’s arms what

Many rarely do.