Her smile

If her smile doesn't captivate you

Nothing else will

©johnfklee

Mirror

Don't look in a mirror to criticize or judge

Don't see your reflection with jaded eyes

Check your hair, your makeup, your clothes

A mirror shows a reflection

But we interpret what we see

There is beauty in that mirror

If you look deep enough

Don't let others' opinions 

Change your view 

You cannot see your soul in a mirror

You cannot view your heart 

A mirror reflects the physical

Not the spiritual

©johnfklee

Disappoint

Disappointment 

When their current actions 

Make their past professions

Appear to be lies

©johnfklee

Bought

  

He bought her little

But gave to her

Everything 

©johnfklee 

Blood heals

  

Torn flesh

Cut deep

Wound bleeds

Pain ebbs

Sweat stings

Tears wash

Scars form

Blood heals

©johnfklee

She smiled

She smiled

As she walked by

I saw the two of them

Both beauties

And watched as they approached

The one

Younger

Brought a smile to my face

Stunning

She was

And all I could do was watch

Her light shone as she approached 

And I could only watch

Watch as they both walked by

But it was the other whose eye I caught

She looked at me

And her face glowed

And she smiled back

As I watched her

And her very young daughter

Walk by

She smiled

We both did 

©johnfklee

Cowards in plain sight

They are here

Around us

Not silent

Or meek

But withholding

Living out loud

Sharing of themselves

Apparently all but

They hold back

At the most crucial of times

Mislabeling openness

Stubbornness

For vulnerablity

They keep giving

Thinking that will do

But when the challenges

Big

Or small

Arise

They don't

They can fight

They can walk away

But are afraid of the in between

Thinking others don't notice

Or the unanswered questions are missed

But they cower in the light

Bold enough to speak

But not enough to answer

The easy questions

Or the hard ones

How is your family

Will you marry me

Are met with the same non answer

But they think they are brave

Because they risked themselves

They leapt from rooftops to rooftop 

And said they were brave

But that one blind step

That short leap of faith

They froze

Because the landing was not so clear

They'd leap a hundred feet 

If they saw the target

But would not step out their door

With their eyes closed

Cowards

All of them

You think them brave

But they are cowards

Hiding in plain sight 

©johnfklee