Love Unrealized by Angela Nichelle Bradley

photo by Nyuszika

When you look at me
I want you to see
the beautiful woman
you once had

The woman who gave you
all she had to offer of herself
and more

So much more

When you look at me
I want you to see the body
you held in your embrace

An embrace that forever changed my world

When you look at me I want you to see the tears

Hiding behind my eyelids

The tears are for me and my pain but they should be for you

You lost my love without realizing you were loved

Open your eyes,

See me -

See me walk away from you

Forever


~Dedicated to a very special friend~

Merry-go-round

I can't change you but I can change me

It's taken me awhile to get that

But now I see...

That no matter what I say

Or what I do

You hear me and still do you

And so we keep spinning 'round and 'round

So dizzy and sick

I can't see the ground

Don't try to get me

It just gets twisted

In fact the point I'm making now-

You've surely missed it

And so we keep spinning 'round and 'round

Can you hear the cracks splintering?

I can't take the sound

And I can't tell if it's me or you

Losing grip as we fall

I'm finally ready to admit

I feel like letting go

It's okay

Don't worry

I don't expect you to change

I just know I can't stay the same

I've finally decided that's it

I'm free

I can't change you but I can change me

By Angela Nichelle Bradley

Our Shattered Love

Shards of you cutting into me
Distorted reflections of us looking back at me

I remember when we used to be
So happy
Just you and me

Long walks together sharing our thoughts
Time spent together never enough
Now look at us falling apart

Shards of us cutting into me
Crimson red rivulets bleeding freely

Wounds that won’t close
Gape open and wide
My weary bandages can no longer hide
Shards of you cutting into me

This poem is dedicated to anyone that has experienced true heartbreak, true disillusionment with the one you love.

I believe in the power of love and the strength that it takes to love someone else in a relationship, but I admire the true strength it takes to love yourself enough to walk away from love that hurts, love that doesn't uplift, love that is destructive.

Beauty

Sable skin so silky smooth
Luscious lips
Cinnamon hued

Curvy
Thick
Ebony sweet

Fabulously full figured
Beauty head to feet

Regal sashay
Crown of curly coils
Eyes follow me
As if I pose

Embrace me
Adore me
For I am righteously designed

I am Beauty
Simply Divine

This poem flowed one morning after I had finished untwisting my natural hair. I stood back in the mirror and felt 100% beautiful. Like most women, I've struggled with loving the reflection in the mirror and even now the mirror I believe mocks me some days.

Being a black woman I can admit that I have struggled all my life to embrace what is me. My skin, my now natural hair, my thickness, and even my behind. It has been an arduous process. A tearful journey to arrive where I am today.

Loving me, all of me, because that's is how God made me. Yes, I still want to lose the last of the baby fat and yes I still turn around and ask the silent question..."Is my butt to big?" But, I no longer voice it out loud, because I've realized when you do no answer will ever satisfy. It's all up to me to stop asking the questions and know the answer- I am beautiful, because I Am...