By Zara Quiter, TIWP Student

~ To my dear friend ~

Vulnerability.
Something hard, 
something that’s locked safe inside of yourself,
something that you feel is your’s to keep,
and no one else’s to be known.

When you share your scar,
(not the one on your arm,
the one in your head),
and when you are brave
and your vulnerability is let out,
they laugh
and it’s locked back up
and the water, ready to fall down your cheeks,
is pushed away,
and now you have no want, no need,
to ever become vulnerable again.

But then
you’re pulled out,
put on a chair,
and you must speak.
You just can’t.
You need to breathe.
And I look you in the eyes and I smile
and you come 
and you let yourself be vulnerable.

But please,
know we are all vulnerable
and know that you are braver.