Poems by Rose

Equals
 
Do not worship me from down below,
then call the distance love.
Do not crown me, praise me, place me
somewhere safely up above.
 
I am not some sacred statue,
meant for staring, not for touch.
If you love me only from a distance,
then you do not love me much.
 
And do not rescue me from ruin
just to keep the rope you threw,
then drag it through each disagreement
as proof I once needed you.
 
Do not turn your help to leverage,
your mercy into debt.
Do not make me pay forever
for a hand I once accepted.
 
I have hauled my heart through hell before.
I know the weight of pain.
I have pieced myself together
without pedestal or chain.
 
So keep your pedestal and pity.
Keep your cape and keep your crown.
You may have to look to find me.
You may even look straight down—
 
but never mistake your angle
for a place above my own.
Height may change the line of vision;
it cannot make a throne.
 
And I will not walk behind you,
watching only where you lead,
nor race ahead and call it freedom
while you struggle to keep speed.
 
Your stride may stretch much farther.
Your legs may lengthen every mile.
You could leave me several steps behind
without meaning to awhile.
 
So slow enough to know me.
I will quicken when I can.
Not because one leads the other.
Not because you are the man.
 
Let our footsteps find a rhythm
neither has to force or fake.
Let us learn the pace between us,
give a little, gently take.
 
Hand in hand and side by side,
not one dragged and one adored.
No one following like a shadow.
No one carried like a lord.
 
No one worshiped.
No one rescued.
No one lesser.
No one more.
 
Not behind you.
Not before you.
 
Beside you—
 
step for step
toward whatever
waits beyond the door.