you learn

when you meet a woman
who hates her body
and her self, don't feel that you have to give her love
or pity.
instead you should give
her time.

it is difficult to love your body,
riddled with imperfections petrified
pock-marked callousness.
it takes a long time to love your body.
it takes a lot of waiting.
to learn that your body is not
the enemy.
in fact, it is the only certainty that you have.
but that takes a lot of pain, and patience,
to learn.

loving your self is even more difficult.
it requires desperation,
an unrecognizable will
to love.
it may take a lifetime, maybe longer,
because you need to forget
the things you are,
and are not,
forget too, yourself
you have to
scour away the self hatred
that has cunningly made itself
shadow of your soul.

and just as soon as you learn,
you may very well forget.
and then you'd need to
learn it all over again.

but you learn.