Paradox Me

I am darkness and light,

midnight and dawn,

the hush before singing,

the ache carrying on.

I am beauty and ugly,

polished and raw,

the crack in the mirror

that remembers what it saw.

I am peace in my breathing,

complex in my mind,

lost in the moment,

yet strangely aligned.

I am powerful, soft,

iron wrapped in lace,

a fire that warms

a caress on your face.

I am hard when I must be,

fragile when safe,

a storm learning stillness,

a risk learning faith.

I am confusion that circles,

calm holding the rim,

the tide pulling outward,

the shore pulling in.

I begin without answers,

I finish unsure,

I stumble in doubt

yet walk something sure.

I am order and chaos,

the rule and the bend,

the start of a breaking,

the art of an end.

Do not ask me for neatness,

for one steady tone

I was never designed

to be narrowed or known.

I am a contradiction,

a "yes" and a "no",

the holding on tight

and the choosing to go.

Believe me or don’t

it alters no part

of the woman who lives

fully lodged in her heart.

I am perfectly perfect,

imperfectly free,

a paradox breathing,

unapologetically ME.