Moth Flambé

If you shine brightly
people may be drawn to your light
like a moth on a porch on a sticky hot night.
Don’t be surprised when they backpedal, flutter-flying
to create distance from the same light that initially drew them
when it begins to illuminate their deeply hidden fears and doubts.

If you shine brightly
people may want to capture your light,
put it in a jar, and keep it on their nightstand.
Over time, when they finally discover that it’s not possible
to vampire drink your light and make it their own, you may end up
watching them smash the jar against a wall in a fit of angry frustration.

If you shine brightly
people often won’t understand your light
emanates from the deepest levels of your soul
where all your own fears and uncertainties dwell.
They won’t realize you keep a bunch of cozy chairs there where
you, and truth, and joy, and hope hang comfortably with your darkness.

If you shine brightly
people who are afraid to see their own dark side
may not be able to stand by you in the circle of light you cast.
You have to find someone willing to weave all their threads,
the shiny and the dark, into glorious colorful self-acceptance,
someone, ever ready to reweave as new threads come to light.

Cinse Bonino
2021