barriers

"barriers"

Before I knew you,

there seemed to be 

some kind of emptiness in me 

that I would choose 

to ignore,

it was there 

and I didn't really know it,

I could feel the tips 

of its presence 

upon my soul

and I would just grit my teeth 

and swallow it whole,

I didn't want to know 

how far this void could go,

didn't want to complicate 

the delicate balance 

of my complacent place 

in life,

I wanted to just make it through 

another day 

but then 

I met you 

and you changed everything,

I didn't know another person 

could get so close 

to my heart again,

didn't know 

someone else could find it 

when I had it 

buried so deep even I 

couldn't tell you 

where it was,

but somehow 

you navigated 

the maze like barriers 

I had built 

and found me,

you saw me 

without my walls,

without my faults,

without the burdens I chose to carry 

as penance 

for any regrets 

I may have been carrying,

you saw me 

and chose to find me,

to walk through 

the wired fences,

over the impossibly 

high walls,

the thorned bushes 

and the dancing flames,

you chose to hug me 

and wipe away my pain 

and told me 

that it was going to be okay,

before you 

I would have built 

another barrier 

and stayed by the flames 

as they splayed my skin,

but now,

I am not even sure how 

to build a barrier 

anymore,

not even sure who that was

when I was 

still hiding from myself.

-Armando Torres