potential

Can I put you in a poem?
Can I hang you on a wall in my home?
Can I hold you, but not just in my head?
Can I keep you, like a book I've never read?

Keep you, like that book, on my shelf for ages-
so much potential in its pages.
I dare not open it up and find
it's not what I built it up to be in my mind.

No, instead, can I take you off the shelf
and open the book of your beautiful self?
Step into the unknown story inside,
letting go of my pictures, my poems, my pride.


day 18 prompt: protect