You Are Safe With Me: A Poem for my LGBTQIA friends

If you’re exhausted from trying to prove you belong,
come sit beside me.
There is no need to explain,
no need to shrink or shape-shift
into something smaller, softer,
or more “acceptable.”

You belong just as you are.

I am not here to fix you,
to question you,
to weigh you against some measuring stick
someone else handed me.
I laid that stick down long ago.

Here, you are seen.
Here, you are known.
Here, you are safe.

Your love,
your truth,
your identity,
your becoming…
all are sacred.

This is not conditional love,
not love with fine print.
This is love that says:
I will stand beside you
even when the world turns its back.

You don’t have to earn my acceptance.
You already have it.
You are already enough.
You are already loved.

So rest here, dear one.
Let’s walk together.
Let’s rise together.
Let’s be the kind of world
we wish existed everywhere.

You are safe with me.
Always.

-Leslie Nease