Part 1: Dear Shame

In response to my friend Eric’s question for his 28th birthday:

What role does Shame play in your life? How have you overcome shame in your life?

Shame, shame
The cloud of heat that wells up deep in my solar plexus.
I refrain,
The feeling so intense I’d like to walk away from it.
What’s your name?
Why are you here trying to hide me from the world?
So insane,
That I’m afraid to know the me that’s me and the you that’s you.
Oh the pain,
Of facing what we’ve come to know as the bad, the dark, the steep.
It’s not a game,
The way through is coming to know the true essence of what we seek.

Love,
Gavrila Nikhila