If No One Buys You Flowers

For the version of you who aches to be seen.

If no one buys you flowers
as you stand upon the stage,

Or wipes your messy countertops
while your hormones weep and rage.

If no one utters thank you
when you give what you cannot give,

Or takes whatever they want from you
without caring how you live.

If no one reaches out to you
just to say hello,

Or quietly hopes you do not see
when they pivot to your fellow.

If whispered words behind cruel hands
make their way to you,

And burrow in to take their place
and claim their hold on you.

Look again, beyond the veil
to what you have not seen.

For in that place is the very One
who died to set you free.

And though the ones you ache to see
upon your front doorstep
do not come and do not call—

The One is knocking instead.

He carries flowers
and words of grace.

He does not hurry past your ache
or look the other way.

He patiently knocks and watches and waits
as you weep on the couch,
feeling small and erased.

“Look here,” He says,
”and listen to Me.
They do not speak
with Heaven’s decree.
They do not speak for Me.”

“For I knit you in your mother’s womb
and thought good things before there was a tomb.

“Open the door and let Me in.
Come out of the grave and live again.

“Sit at My feet and listen to me
as I tell you the story of who you can be.”

If no one buys you flowers
go to the garden instead.

For there He is
and always will be,

with love and mercy outspread.