“will you defeat them? your demons / and all the non-believers, the plans that they have made?”

[larryhammer]

For Poetry Monday:

Prayer for Werewolves, Stephanie Burt

Someone will probably love you for who you are.
        If not, you’ll still find friends,
friends who, given time, or given warning,
        will probably gather around you, hold your hands,
and wrap you in soft coats and blankets till the violence
        inside your body ends.

Someone will probably love you for who you are,
        not just for who you labor to be.
Maybe you’re lost in your skin today. Maybe you’re burning
        and wish you could tear it all off. Please don’t. You are variously
a marvel, an athlete, a wilderness, a source of warmth
        and a way to learn from fear.

When you have claws, your claws are yours, your ears
        bristle and are yours; your irises
are citrine, pure, and yours. They let you see
        through smog and pine thickets and into the future, where
you need no chains to feel secure,
        and someone will probably love you for who you are:

then you will know each other’s scents
        and nuzzle or lope together. But for
now, you have friends,
        who are not going anywhere. Please
stay here.


From the collection We Are Mermaids, published last month, found via radiantfracture.

---L.

Subject quote from Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance.