The Day the Shining Fell

He saw himself a certain way
As he had always done
He saw himself with certain flaws
From which he could not run.

These flaws were buried deep below
That smooth and shining face
And lies were laced with laughter as
He lived within that place.

The self he saw was not enough,
Had never been and could not be,
And if another saw the same,
They too, he thought, would choose to flee.

And so the walls around that deep,
The deeply feared, the failure-ache
Brought safety to the self within
Which hid behind those walls opaque.

Yet love would only come in brief
Deceitful flickerings of light.
Despite the face of shining strength,
The person whole evaded sight.

And so the love that came to him
Was never love, not love at all
It could not come to one who stood
And would not claim the grace to fall.

He saw himself a certain way
Until one day when he did not,
Until another bled before
His guarded eyes; a trust unsought.

And all the faults were glaring then:
The ones she did not fear to show
And yet he loved her for them all
And loved a love he had not known.

And on one day the shining fell
A crack had formed within the walls
And from the weakness something bright
Shone out and this in love she saw.

He saw himself not through her eyes
But as a man who could be loved
And all the fear of the within
This simple knowledge stripped him of.