Can I Love You, or Can Anyone Love Me?

Dear Readers,

In the shadowed corners of my heart, I stand,
With trembling hands that fear to demand.
Can I love you, with this fractured soul?
Can I give you the parts that never feel whole?

I've built walls high, where no light can seep,
Guarding wounds that run far too deep.
Each scar, a story I dare not share,
Each smile is a mask for the weight I bear.

But here you are, with your steady gaze,
Melting the frost of my frozen maze.
Can I trust this warmth, this light you bring?
Or will it fade, like the fleeting spring?

I yearn to hold you, to let love flow,
But fear whispers softly, "They’ll never know
The shadows you carry, the battles inside,
The moments you faltered, the times you’ve lied."

And yet, in your presence, something stirs,
A spark of hope, a heart that concurs.
Could love be simple, not bound by despair?
Could it see my flaws and still be there?

Still, I wonder, with each rising sun,
Can anyone love me, the broken one?
Am I too far gone, too shattered, too lost,
A shipwrecked vessel adrift and tossed?

But love, you remind me, is not pristine,
It’s messy and raw, and sometimes unseen.
It thrives in cracks, in the space between pain,
It grows like flowers in the pouring rain.

So can I love you? Perhaps I can try,
To give you my truth, not a polished lie.
And if you can love me, scars and all,
I’ll rise from this rubble, no longer small.

For love, it seems, is a daring leap,
A promise to sow what fear cannot reap.
And if we fall, as sometimes we might,
We'll catch each other in the failing light.

So here I stand, with my heart in hand,
Hoping you'll take it, hoping you'll understand.
Can I love you? Can you love me too?
Let’s walk this path, no matter how new.

Jacob M