Because it’s true

I want you to know something:

I love you

Not in this big grandiose way that would have you running through airports

Nor loud enough that everyone sees

It’s always been there

It’s solid and real 

It’s built on hope and faith in who you are

All that you can do

This is the true version

The kind that breathes on its own

The sort that lifts me up to keep marching 

I know these are strange words to hear

Every other day hate clouds our judgement

Every words spat out with ignorance

Builds walls of anger and drains you

The voices want to break you down

And sometimes they do

But I want you to know

I love you

I am with you today like I was yesterday

I know you’ve hurt and doubted yourself 

I see you 

I honor your pain 

I will fight for us

I am

I am a combination of colors

Of red white blue

Of red yellow green

Of rainbows with different shades of purples

Of grays when the storms come by

I am more than just one box or country

My roots expand the universe

Grounding me in solid faith

I am more than my depression

Sadness has tinged patterns in my life

But it has not taken it away

Bruises and cuts have decorated my path

But not determined it

I am more than one love

My heart has no boundaries 

And though it knows hate,

It grows with compassion 

I am more than black or white

I am brown and everything in between

Beautifully sun-kissed and brave 

With ancestors fiercely dancing onward

Now make me more than I could have been

I am a combination of colors 

I am different patterns of rainstorms

I am all kinds of sounds forming a melody

The kind you will only find once.