if you grow up the type of person they want to look at 

you can let them look at you

do not mistake eyes for hands 

let them see what a human looks like 

perhaps they have never seen one before

if you grow up the type of person they want to touch 

you can let them touch you

sometimes it is not you they are reaching for 

sometimes it is a stepping stone, a possession, a story,

another person

but their hands found you first 

do not mistake yourself for a guardian or 

a muse or a promise or a victim or a snack 

you are 

you are not made of metaphors 

not apologies

not excuses 

if you grow up the type of person they want to hold

you can let them hold you 

only some persons will want to learn what it feels like 

curl themselves into a question mark around you and 

hold you like you are the answer 

you are not the answer

you are not the problem

you are not the poem or the punchline or the riddle or the joke

if you grow up the type of person they want to love

you can let them love you 

being loved is not the same thing as loving 

when you fall in love it is: 

discovering the sun after years of flipping light switches

it is realizing that you actually have hands 

do not spend time wondering if you are the type of person they will hurt 

if they leave you with a car alarm heart you may learn to sing along 

it is hard to stop loving the sun 

even after it has left you flaky and fragile 

so forgive yourself for the decisions you have made

the ones you still call mistakes and know,

know you are the type of person who is searching for a place to call home

then realize

you have always been the place