Living Tree Poetry

I don’t receive you
by being you.
If difference is to be respected,
then so should mine.

If difference is to be recognised,
it is because we do not blend,
but stand out backlit
so we shine.

I receive you best by being me.
This heart shaped to hold yours.
This depository of sorts,
like a lock is to a key.

No, we are not made the same
but somehow we can fit,
when we all of us
make each other room.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2019

“There never were in the world two opinions alike, no more than two hairs or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.” Michel de Montaigne