By Monica C. Voskamp

 

Am I still loved

Though I weigh far too much?

Am I still loved

When my hair falls out?

Am I still loved

When age creases my skin?

Am I still loved

Please tell me,

Am I still enough?

 

I don’t feel loved

As I watch myself

Metamorphosis into something

So unlike me.

I don’t feel loved

As I jiggle in my skin.

I don’t feel loved

As I stare into the mirror

At my fading reflection

From beauty to…this.

 

And why I don’t feel,

Is because of what I don’t

Believe.

For worse than my feelings

What you do or don’t think,

Or what my body can or cannot be

Is the crippling belief

Of me not loving me.

This more than anything else

Will be my ruins.

 

So when I wake up today

And see what is not the past

Nor the future desired me,

But when I wake up to the present

I am faced with this complex simplicity:

Will I love me?

 

Always hope. Always believe. Always love. ❤

*Photo Credit: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash