Some of the strongest people I know are the most gentle.

Sometimes the strongest people I know cry the sweetest tears.
At times I know their strength more fiercely in their humility.
Always in their vulnerability.

Some of the bravest people I know have the most fears.
Sometimes their bravery comes from a need to conquer.
At times what is unconquerable feeds their courage.
And they learn the powerful grace in surrender.

Some of the most joyful people I know have sadness.
Sometimes their light is made brighter by the raw truths in their darkness.
At times they are so moved by what they have found that they howl
with sorrow fuelled compassion, humanness.

Some of the most lost people I know have the greatest propensity to live.
Sometimes their confusion is but the siphoning through of what matters the most.
At times what they find filters through is a potent dose of brilliance, inimitable.
And they embrace their journey in its entirety.

Some of the most alive people I know die time and again.
Sometimes they change in but a moment, fluid, evolving, existentially free.
At times they are so unattached that they scatter impulsively, undefined
and come to land in a deeper, more expansive sense of self.

Some of the most governed people I know have the wildest dreams.
Sometimes their discipline is what grants them their freedom.
At times their boundaries so respectable that I crave
the guidance of their sureness.

Some of what I know of myself is not myself at all.
Sometimes I am brave, strong in joy and sadness, alive and dying.
At times I am sure, mostly I am wild, always I am free
ever willing to grow, discover, express the dual nature of me.

Author: Tiffany Anderson

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Ryann Flippo/Unsplash