Thursday, September 30, 2010

Secret Places

Faces
either showing exuberance,
graciously nodding
often pain oozing out of them
and at worst lifeless
tell a story.

Hearts
pounding with unspoken but real experiences
aching
hurting
untouched or even undiscovered.

Lives
lived by rote
patterns that annoy frustrate and pacify
yet when given the freedom to be
often launch passion in unexpected ways.

Backstories
change everything.
Faces, hearts, lives are given context
truth emerges.
What seems is now rewritten as what is.

Once again
it is clear that what we think we see is not clear.
Within all humanity is the beating of a story yet to be spoken
because it is unsafe to speak.
Within all humanity is the desire for relationship yet to be pursued
because it is unsafe to feel.
Within all humanity is the secret place yet to be named
because it is unsafe to admit.

Faces, hearts, lives, backstories
nothing is quite what it seems.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

beautiful.

mshane kuhn said...

Uh, freakin' awesome, Arly. Seriously.

i cried. i'm one of the ones about whom You were writing...

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

'Faces, hearts, lives, backstories
nothing is quite what it seems.'

We all have limited knowledge and perspective.