For What It’s Worth

For what it’s worth, I’d rather face an uncomfortable truth
than bask in blissful ignorance
or cower in the prison of denial

For what it’s worth, I’d rather stumble over your uncompromising reality
than dance with your mask of social acceptability

I’d rather hear your blunt rebuke than any polite evasion of honesty

Rather be seen a fool than feign aloof unconcern

And in all honesty, I probably can’t help

After all, what would I know about you and your troubles… unless you tell me?

I will not try to rescue you
Your experience, hard as it may seem, is life’s gift to you
Not mine to steal

Neither will I support you in self pity, nor take your anger to my heart
That will not make you strong, or me righteous
Your sorrows are your own

Still, we are connected, and I feel you.
How could I not

I could not bear to live alone and isolated
Raw and vulnerable in a world with no connection
Where no one would reach out an open hand
An open heart
An open mind

So I change what I can, myself
Take the risk of living in the world I choose to create
Being the mirror that I need
Seeing
Touching

I make no promises, offer no guarantees
Sooner or later I will say something stupid
Miss something obvious
Be bored, repelled, or secretly satisfied
Judge you as harshly as I judge myself

You would be as brave or as foolish as I am
to risk being seen by me
for what it’s worth